By Yuri Yamamoto

Wherever I serve as a chaplain, I get to be known as “the chaplain with the ukulele” for carrying a ukulele around campus. People often talk to me because they love music, enjoy singing, or are just bored or curious. Singing together can create an instant bond or a moment of respite, and a favorite song helps to bring back memories.

There once was a patient who loved to sing traditional Christian hymns. My memorized repertoire in this genre was limited, so we usually sang “Amazing Grace” and “This Little Light of Mine.” After a while, he started asking if I knew “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” 

“Sorry but I never heard of it,” I would answer, but he persisted. He would try to sing it to me with his hoarse voice, but I could not make out the melody. Eventually, I looked it up online. As I began listening to the music, I was pleasantly surprised by the familiarity of the tune. I, however, never heard the English title or lyrics. I must have learned it in Japan, I thought, most likely at my first preschool that was affiliated with a Christian church.

After figuring out the ukulele accompaniment, I scribbled its English verses on a tiny piece of paper and headed back to see him. While I sang from the cheat sheet, the man sang his heart out from memory. He was elated.

The man was poor and didn’t seem to have close family or friends. Perhaps Jesus was his best and only friend, and the hymn helped him remember God’s love.

For me, who was born and raised in Japan, the hymn’s English words and expressions felt foreign. No matter how much I have communicated in English in the last 41 years, I still struggle with it. There seems to be an extra emotional and cognitive gap between me and the English language. It is also a symbol of my shattered American Dream: becoming a real American is impossible for me as an Asian American. 

The shame I feel about my accent and inability to speak smoothly is much more than just about the language. After all, language is the primary vehicle for thinking and being in modern society. How can anyone truly appreciate my deep thoughts and unique ideas unless I can communicate them eloquently?

But I am sure that Jesus didn’t know English and doesn’t care if my English is not perfect, or I don’t look like a real American. He knows me, walks with me, comforts me, speaks with me, sings with me, dances with me, laughs with me, cries with me… just like my ancestors, eight million Shinto gods and goddesses and Buddhist deities… do. And that’s why he is my friend.

Yuri Yamamoto (they/she) is a board-certified chaplain, ordained and endorsed by the Federation of Christian Ministries. After coming from Japan to the U.S., Yuri was a scientist (molecular biology/plant biology) and a church musician in a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Their theological education is from Shaw University Divinity School, and after two CPE residencies, Yuri is serving as a clinical chaplain in a close custody state prison. Yuri and their husband have six kids, four kids-in-law, four grandkids, and one dog.