"Far & Away" and the Gospel of Belonging

In the 1992 movie Far and Away, we learn the story of the Joseph Donnelly, played by Tom Cruise, the son of a poor Irish tenant farmer who runs away with Shannon Christie, played by Nicole Kidman, the daughter of a rich Irish landlord, to America, both seeking fame, fortune, and land in the promise of America in the 1890s.

When they arrive they find that all is not was promised. Instead of fame, they find the anonymity of Boston. Instead of fortune, they are working for pennies a day plucking chickens. Instead of land, they live in a squalid tenement hall run by men of questionable character. They both experience fleeting moments of fame and fortune, but it passes and they find themselves left with nothing. Worse than nothing: Banishment.

In this backdrop, I invite you to consider the early Latter-day Saint converts who had also traveled from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in the mid-1800s. They, too, were promised a level of freedom in America unheard of in the strict social hierarchy of 19th century Europe.

Imagine being there: You've heard the words of Scripture all your life, whether you're Protestant or Catholic. You believe in God and you believe in Christ. You believe in the promises of a paradise yet to come. Then some gentlemen come from America with a strange little book, preaching the Gospel of Christ intertwined with a promise of something that would have seemed unimaginable: Community. Unity. Belonging. Safety. Peace.

Paradise. Not some day. Not after we die. Here. Now. The City of Zion returned to Earth with all the promises of the Gospel.

That is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is this promise that caused the multitudes gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover to shout Hosanna and wave palm fronds in the air as the Saviour entered the Holy City in triumph nearly 2,000 years ago–the inspiration for our observance of Palm Sunday.

This message of belonging is the message of the Restoration. As the hymn declares, "Home can be a Heaven on Earth where we want to be."

And yet.

The Saviour’s Triumphal Entry didn’t result in His Millennial Reign. Nor did the early Latter-day Saints build a glorious Zion in which "their hearts knit [were] together in unity and in love one towards another" (Mosiah 18:21), where they were "one heart and one mind⁠, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them" (Moses 7:18).

Not for lack of trying! In Palmyra, in Kirtland, in Colesville, in Independence, in Jackson County, at Haun's Mill, in Nauvoo, at Winter Quarters, as they crossed the Great Plains, and as they settled the Intermountain West, they sought to build Zion and to live the Gospel to its fullest, but they fell short. I'd like to offer two reasons why:

First, life is hard and we are weak, imperfect beings. As in the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and even Christ, even in our days: far too many of us are "lovers of their own selves, covetous⁠, boasters, proud⁠, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful⁠, unholy, wthout natural affection⁠, trucebreakers⁠, false accusers⁠, incontinent⁠, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors⁠, heady⁠, highminded⁠, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Second, Even as we are striving to build the Zion of our God, Satan is seeking to destroy it. But he doesn't do it by telling us to stop caring or stop trying. Rather, he works through one of the most insidious lies he tells us: We aren't good enough. You're not good enough. I'm not good enough. We don't belong. You don't belong. I don't belong. He whispers these self-negating thoughts to us, sowing seeds of doubt.

That friend who called you on Friday night for a blessing but then didn't call back or respond to your follow-up to see how they were doing? It isn't that they had something come up; Satan tells us it is because we did something wrong and they no longer want our friendship. That time you sent your brother a text message and he left you on “read”? It isn't that he was busy or missed the notification; Satan would have us believe it is because he doesn't care. That time you volunteered to help with an activity and then someone pulled you aside and asked why you are taking that away from the guy who has always done it? How dare you think you can step in and help? Nobody asked you.

All of these examples are things that have happened to me. Not over the last 43 years of my life, but over the last 43 days. And even though I know in my head that these are Satan's lies, it causes pain in my heart as I wonder, “But what if he's right? Maybe they don't love me. Maybe they don't want me. Maybe I don't belong.”

Brothers and sisters, if you have felt Satan whispering these seeds of doubt in your mind and in your heart, please believe me when I tell you this: You are worthy. You are loved. You are both needed and wanted. You. Belong.

With all of this now in your mind, you may be thinking, “Okay, cool. The world is a terrible place and Satan is just making it worse. Thanks for the great pep talk, Alex. I'm gonna go home and doom scroll social media for the rest of the day as I contemplate how awful things have been, are, and are likely to be.”

Before you do that, though, let me pull from the words of a different Nicole Kidman movie that takes place half a century and half a world away from "Far and Away”: we must always remember that "just because it is, doesn't mean it should be." We can begin to build Zion right here, right now, starting with ourselves, then moving outward to our family, our friends, our neighbours, and our community. How do we do that? How do we stem the tide of awful?

Brothers and sisters, the answer is deceptively simple: where there is darkness, we must cast light. Where there is hate, we must spread love. Where there is conflict, we must proclaim peace. Let us each commit this day to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with [the pure love of Christ], which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure" (Moroni 7:48).

As we enter the last few days of this Easter season, known as Holy Week, I bear my testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News that He came to Earth as a humble babe born in a stable, that He showed us the path that we should walk that leads us back to our Father in Heaven, that He paid the price for our sins as He suffered in Gethsemane and died on Calvary's cross, that He rose the third day, breaking the bands of death and Hell and that because He lives, we, too, "might have life⁠, and that [we] might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). As we seek to be filled with charity, which is the "pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47), we will know that we each belong to Him and to each other.