Visit the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri

During the summer of 2000, my wife and I took a trip to Europe, primarily to see the famous Passion Play presented every 10 years at Oberammergau, Germany. Wanting to take advantage of a rare opportunity, we crammed as many cities and activities into three weeks as we could. One of the highlights of the trip, in addition to the Passion Play, was our visit to the Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the Roman Catholic Pope's residence in the Vatican City. Michaelangelo's stunning paintings on the walls and ceilings of the chapel left us nearly speechless.

It was a delightful surprise, then, to visit the Precious Moments Park and Chapel in Carthage, Missouri, years later and find that the Precious Moments Chapel was designed to imitate the Sistine Chapel. Samuel J. Butcher, who created the famous Precious Moments line of porcelain figures, was inspired by the Sistine Chapel and the way its paintings are presented. Butcher wanted to share his faith and found an avenue through the Chapel. He painted all the murals in the chapel by himself.

What sets apart his work from the thousands of religious paintings around the world is that Butcher's paintings use his Precious Moments characters to represent Old Testament and New Testament figures. The murals on the east side of the chapel are drawn from familiar Old Testament stories, beginning with the story of creation. The murals on the west side of the chapel bring New Testament stories to life, including the resurrection of Jesus. The ceiling shows a blue, cloud-lined sky with a multitude of cherubs or angels flying around.

The impact of the chapel on me was to see the old stories through the eyes of a child. How would a child see an Old Testament character if that character was presented as a child? Could a child identify with the character and the story more easily? What does heaven mean to a child? Angels, harps, and worship, or a little game of football? Do our works of religious art too often ignore the children, and the child within each one of us? The Precious Moments Chapel will give you a new view of the world of the Bible and our place in it. Your children will love it.