In April 2021 general conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a moving talk entitled “Room in the Inn.” He begins his address by sharing a sightseeing experience he had with his father decades ago in France.
My father and I visited the great cathedral at Chartres. Malcolm Miller, a world expert on the cathedral, pointed out three sets of Chartres stained-glass windows. He said they tell a story.
The first windows show Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden. The second recount the parable of the good Samaritan. The third depict the Lord’s Second Coming.
Taken together, these stained-glass windows can describe our eternal journey. They invite us to welcome all with room in His inn.
During his talk, Elder Gong shared images from those exact windows at the Chartres Cathedral.
Elder Gong goes on to compare the story of the good Samaritan bringing the wounded man to the inn to the Savior bringing us into His Church.d He then points out five principles we learn about ourselves and Jesus Christ when we “come to the inn.”
First, we come to the Inn as we are, with the foibles and imperfections we each have.
Second, He entreats us to make His Inn a place of grace and space, where each can gather, with room for all. As disciples of Jesus Christ, all are equal, with no second-class groups.
Third, in His Inn we learn perfection is in Jesus Christ, not in the perfectionism of the world.
Fourth, at His Inn we become part of a gospel community centered in Jesus Christ, anchored in restored truth, living prophets and apostles, and another testament of Jesus Christ—the Book of Mormon.
Finally, fifth, we rejoice that God loves His children in our different backgrounds and circumstances, in every nation, kindred, and tongue, with room for all in His Inn.
You can read Elder Gong’s entire conference message on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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