By Yuri Yamamoto

By All Means Possible
Jesus looks for his lost sheep

Once I saw him
In the eyes of a suffering man

Leaning on the church door
So as not to collapse under the weight of his depression

He looked up 
And whispered
“Please, Yuri…”

Jesus 
In this man’s desperate eyes 
Pleading for my understanding and compassion

But I turned away
Thinking

“You preached love
But you couldn’t even save yourself
What a failure”

My heart of stone
I cast at him

Yet he still seeks me out 
His last sheep
By all means possible

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.