Hallelujah Square: Heaven Through the Eyes of a Child

At the far end of the sanctuary in the Precious Moments Chapel stands a mural twenty-six feet high. It fills the wall floor to ceiling. It is the first thing your eyes find when you walk through the door, and the last thing you look back at when you leave.

Sam Butcher called it Hallelujah Square. He spent two years deciding what to paint there — longer than almost anything else in the Chapel's creation. He knew that whatever went on that wall would define the entire experience for every person who walked in.

"Heaven, as seen through the eyes of a child." — Sam Butcher's theme for Hallelujah Square

Two Years of Completion

Sam had prayed, from the very beginning, that Jesus would be the center of everything he created in the Chapel. When he finally stood back from the completed Hallelujah Square and walked to the balcony to see it from a distance — the only way to take in its full scope — something stopped him cold.

"It was at this moment I stood in amazement to discover I'd painted Jesus in the center of Hallelujah Square. Before I'd begun painting it, I'd prayed to the Lord to make Jesus the center of all I was creating. I knew then my prayer had been answered." — Sam Butcher

The mural is filled with people Sam knew — many of whom had passed on to their Heavenly home. Visitors who have lost their own loved ones often find themselves standing before it and feeling, in some way they can't fully explain, that their person is somehow present in it too.

Ray Butcher, the First Living Person

Down near the bottom right of the staircase in the mural, there is a small figure with a bucket of suds, scrubbing a wall. It is Sam's brother Ray.

Ray Butcher spent his entire working life as a janitor for the public schools — a job he took tremendous pride in. One day, when Ray mentioned retirement, Sam excused himself, went off and painted the image, and returned twenty minutes later.

"I've given you a job for all of eternity," Sam told him.

Ray was the first living person ever painted into Hallelujah Square.

The Dropped Brush and the Painted Waterfall

Sam told this story with a smile. While painting the waterfall in Hallelujah Square, the sanctuary happened to be full of visitors. In his excitement, he accidentally dropped his brush. It fell all the way to the floor thirty feet below. He was too shy to climb down and retrieve it in front of everyone watching.

So he painted the rest of the waterfall with his fingers.

The Signature He Couldn't Get Right

Hallelujah Square is the only painting in the entire Chapel that Sam Butcher ever signed — his signature meaning the painting is finished and will never be changed. Getting there took three attempts.

Sam first signed it in 2009, after completing the image of a white dove in front of his mother — the peacemaker of the family. But the signature bothered him. He wiped it away. Signed it again. Lay awake all night. Wiped it away again the next morning.

The signature was too large. Too prominent. Egotistical, Sam said. The third signature — smaller, quieter, tucked with humility into the corner — was the one that stayed.

"I believe Hallelujah Square has the most beautiful message of inspiration in the Chapel. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' I believe that is the message." — Sam Butcher