What phrase or image from Elder Gong’s talk stood out most to you? Why?

I.

For 50 years, I have studied culture, including gospel culture. I began with fortune cookies.

In San Francisco’s Chinatown, Gong family dinners concluded with a fortune cookie and a wise saying like “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

As a young adult, I made fortune cookies. Wearing white cotton gloves, I folded and tucked into shape the round cookies hot out of the oven.

To my surprise, I learned fortune cookies are not originally part of Chinese culture. To distinguish Chinese, American, and European fortune cookie culture, I looked for fortune cookies on multiple continents—just as one would use multiple locations to triangulate a forest fire. Chinese restaurants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York serve fortune cookies, but not those in Beijing, London, or Sydney. Only Americans celebrate National Fortune Cookie Day. Only Chinese advertisements offer “Authentic American Fortune Cookies.”

Fortune cookies are a fun, simple example. But the same principle of comparing practices in different cultural settings can help us distinguish gospel culture. And now the Lord is opening new opportunities to learn gospel culture as Book of Mormon allegory and New Testament parable prophecies are fulfilled.

What is Elder Gong teaching us here?

II.

Everywhere people are moving. The United Nations reports 281 million international migrants. This is 128 million more individuals than in 1990 and more than three times 1970 estimates. Everywhere, record numbers of converts are finding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every Sabbath, members and friends from 195 birth countries and territories gather in 31,916 Church congregations. We speak 125 languages.

Elder Quentin L Cook, in his General Conference talk ‘The Lord is Hastening His Work’ reported:

‘There is clear evidence that faith in Jesus Christ is increasing in our day. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there has been a remarkable increase in converts and convert participation. In the last 36 months, nearly 900,000 converts have joined the Church. These converts constitute approximately 5 percent of the total Church membership. We welcome new members with open arms and deep appreciation for the path you have chosen.’

The gospel net will gather of every kind – different religious or social backgrounds, different motives, different political views etc. How can we encourage unity amidst our diversity?

Recently, in Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Switzerland, and Germany, I witnessed new members fulfilling the Book of Mormon allegory of the olive tree. In Jacob 5, the Lord of the vineyard and his servants strengthen both olive tree roots and branches by gathering and grafting together those from diverse locations. Today children of God gather as one in Jesus Christ; the Lord offers a remarkable natural means to expand our lived fulness of His restored gospel.

My wife and I were thrilled to hear Elder Gong speak of Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia as these countries were 3 of the 5 countries in the Adriatic South Mission over which we presided as Mission Leaders from 2020 to 2023.

Preparing us for the kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells the parables of the great supper and wedding feast. In these parables, invited guests make excuses not to come. The master instructs his servants to “go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city” and “the highways and hedges” to “bring in hither” the poor, maimed, halt, and blind. 

From the footnotes to Elder Gong’s talk:

‘Luke 14:21, 23. Similarly, in the parable of the wedding feast, when the invited guests do not come, the king instructs his servants to go gather “as many as [they] shall find” in the “highways” (Matthew 22:9).’

Spiritually speaking, that’s each of us.

How is that each of us?

Scripture declares:

“All nations shall be invited” unto “a supper of the house of the Lord.”

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, … that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come.”

Today those invited to the supper of the Lord come from every place and culture. Old and young, rich and poor, local and global, we make our Church congregations look like our communities.

As chief Apostle, Peter saw heaven open a vision of “a great sheet knit at the four corners, … wherein were all manner of … beasts.” Taught Peter: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. … In every nation he that feareth [the Lord], and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus invites us to come to each other and to Him in His inn—His Church. He invites us to be good neighbors. The good Samaritan promises to return and recompense the care of those in His inn. Living the gospel of Jesus Christ includes making room for all in His restored Church.

In the October 2023 General Conference, Elder Ulisses Soares said:

‘As disciples of Christ, we are invited to increase our faith in, and love for, our spiritual brother- and sisterhood by genuinely knitting our hearts together in unity and love, regardless of our differences, thereby increasing our ability to promote respect for the dignity of all the sons and daughters of God.’

How can we better see people as individuals who are all equal before God?

In the footnotes to the talk, Elder Gong adds:

‘The image of us coming together to each other and Him in His inn is expressed in 3 Nephi 18:32. “No one sitting alone” in our places of worship, and our continued warm ministering to each other, indeed may be the means by which we and they “return and repent, and come unto [Him] with full purpose of heart, and [He] shall heal them; and [we] shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.”’

The spirit of “room in the inn” includes “no one sits alone.” When you come to church, if you see someone alone, will you please say hello and sit with him or her? This may not be your custom. The person may look or speak differently than you. And of course, as a fortune cookie might say, “A journey of gospel friendship and love begins with a first hello and no one sitting alone.”

What does ‘No one sits alone’ mean to you?

“No one sits alone” also means no one sits alone emotionally or spiritually. I went with a brokenhearted father to visit his son. Years earlier, the son was excited to become a new deacon. The occasion included his family buying him his first pair of new shoes.

But at church, the deacons laughed at him. His shoes were new, but not fashionable. Embarrassed and hurt, the young deacon said he would never go again to church. My heart is still broken for him and his family.

On the dusty roads to Jericho, each of us has been laughed at, embarrassed and hurt, perhaps scorned or abused. And with varying degrees of intent, each of us has also disregarded, not seen or heard, perhaps deliberately hurt others. It is precisely because we have been hurt and have hurt others that Jesus Christ brings us all to His inn. In His Church and through His ordinances and covenants, we come to each other and to Jesus Christ. We love and are loved, serve and are served, forgive and are forgiven. 

The Lord counseled,

“My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened. Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (D&C 64:8-9)

Is the Lord really saying that refusing to forgive another is a greater sin than the offence committed against us?

From the footnotes:

‘Doctrine and Covenants 104:15, 17 reminds us, “All things are [the Lord’s]” and “the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare.” Accordingly, the poor and the rich are each to help all be exalted and be made low. Likewise, King Benjamin asks, “Are we not all beggars?” Thereby the rich and poor are each obligated willingly to “impart of the substance that ye have one to another” (Mosiah 4:19, 21; see also Mosiah 4:25–27).’

Please remember, “earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal”; earth burdens lighten—our Savior’s joy is real.

In 1 Nephi 19, we read: “Even the very God of Israel do [they] trample under their feet; … they set him at naught. … Wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it.”

My friend Professor Terry Warner says the judging, scourging, smiting, and spitting were not occasional events that occurred only during Christ’s mortal life. How we treat each other—especially the hungry, the thirsty, those left out alone—is how we treat Him.

How does that thought make you feel?

In His restored Church, we are all better when no one sits alone. Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate. Let us genuinely welcome, acknowledge, minister to, love. May each friend, sister, brother not be a foreigner or stranger but a child at home.

What does the difference between accommodating or toleration on the one hand and welcoming, acknowledging, ministering and loving look like in practice?

Today many feel lonely and isolated. Social media and artificial intelligence can leave us yearning for human closeness and human touch. We want to hear each other’s voices. We want authentic belonging and kindness.

There are many reasons we may feel we do not fit in at church—that, speaking figuratively, we sit alone. We may worry about our accent, clothes, family situation. Perhaps we feel inadequate, smell of smoke, yearn for moral cleanliness, have broken up with someone and feel hurt and embarrassed, are concerned about this or that Church policy. We may be single, divorced, widowed. Our children are noisy; we don’t have children. We didn’t serve a mission or came home early. The list goes on.

Have you ever felt that you didn’t fit in? If you have been able to overcome that feeling, how did you do it?

Mosiah 18:21 invites us to knit our hearts together in love. I invite us to worry less, judge less, be less demanding of others—and, when needed, be less hard on ourselves. We do not create Zion in a day. But each “hello,” each warm gesture, brings Zion closer. Let us trust the Lord more and choose joyfully to obey all His commandments.

III.

Doctrinally, in the household of faith and fellowship of the Saints, no one sits alone because of covenant belonging in Jesus Christ.

In his October 2019 General Conference talk, Elder Gong also talked about ‘covenant belonging’.

‘The age-old paradox is still true. In losing our worldly self through covenant belonging, we find and become our best eternal self—free, alive, real—and define our most important relationships. Covenant belonging is to make and keep solemn promises to God and each other through sacred ordinances that invite the power of godliness to be manifest in our lives. When we covenant all we are, we can become more than we are. Covenant belonging gives us place, narrative, capacity to become. It produces faith unto life and salvation.’

The paradox that Elder Gong is talking about is the one expressed in Matthew 10:39:

‘He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. ‘

How can we explain this paradox?

What does it have to do with covenants?

What do you think Elder Gong means by ‘covenant belonging?

Taught the Prophet Joseph Smith: “It is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory, ‘the dispensation of the fullness of times … ,’ when the Saints of God will be gathered in one from every nation, and kindred, and people.”

In the footnotes Elder Gong writes:

‘Today Church members live in a wide variety of political, social, and economic conditions. Our wards and branches vary in size and leadership resources. Principles of “uniformity and adaptation” can help strengthen family and His restored Church in gospel ways wherever we live (see Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 17.0).’

God “doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; … that he may draw all men [and women] unto him. …

“… He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; … and all are alike unto God.”

Conversion in Jesus Christ requires us to put off the natural man and worldly culture. As President Dallin H. Oaks teaches, we are to give up any tradition and cultural practice that is contrary to the commandments of God and to become Latter-day Saints. He explains, “There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all [the] members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Gospel culture includes chastity, weekly attendance at church, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. It includes honesty and integrity, understanding we move forward, not upward or downward, in Church positions.

If there is a conflict between cultural practice and gospel culture, which should hold sway? Are their cultural practices in your community that conflict with gospel culture?

From the footnotes:

‘See Articles of Faith 1:13. As diverse branches and roots intertwine as one in Jesus Christ, we find more that is “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” We see the first last and the last first. We rejoice as learners teach and teachers learn. All understand, are edified, and rejoice together (see Doctrine and Covenants 50:22).’

I learn from faithful members and friends in every land and culture. Scriptures studied in multiple languages and cultural perspectives deepen gospel understanding. Different expressions of Christlike attributes deepen my love and understanding of my Savior. All are blessed when we define our cultural identity, as President Russell M. Nelson taught, as a child of God, a child of the covenant, a disciple of Jesus Christ.

The peace of Jesus Christ is meant for us personally. Recently a young man earnestly asked, “Elder Gong, can I still go to heaven?” He wondered if he could ever be forgiven. I asked his name, listened carefully, invited him to talk with his bishop, gave him a big hug. He left with hope in Jesus Christ.

Why do we sometimes struggle to believe we are forgiven or that we belong?

I mentioned the young man in another setting. Later I received an unsigned letter that began, “Elder Gong, my wife and I have raised nine kids … and served two missions.” But “I always felt I would not be allowed in the celestial kingdom … because my sins as a youth were so bad!”

The letter continued, “Elder Gong, when you told about the young man gaining hope of forgiveness, I was filled with joy, beginning to realize that maybe I [could be forgiven].” The letter concludes, “I even like myself now!”

Covenant belonging deepens as we come to each other and to the Lord in His inn. The Lord blesses us all when no one sits alone. And who knows? Maybe the person we sit next to may become our best fortune cookie friend. May we find and make place for Him and each other at the supper of the Lamb, I humbly pray in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

What is one small thing you can do this week to help ensure someone in your ward or branch does not sit alone?

(NB: Excerpts from Elder Gong’s address are shown in italics)