A Tribute to AliveHospice 
                                              
This Tribute to AliveHospice has been on my “to do” list for many months.

The Nashville Music Medics were established in 2019, a Community outreach program as a vision of a handful of members of the Music City Chorus and remains a continuing ministry despite a brief COVID-19 setback; our goal was to bring joy through our music to the children (and their families) in the children’s hospitals in and around Nashville. When we met the setback of Covid-19 our hospital visits were limited; however, we discovered the opportunity to expand our outreach to the AliveHospice residence facility in 2022, just one of many now in our 2026 outreach calendar.

That additional Hospice ministry has touched us all beyond measure.  During one of those visits to AliveHospice in September 2024 one of our lead singers, James Russell, was led to his own personal musical tribute, dedicated to AliveHospice.org. At that time he shared with me his lyrics and original studio vocals. This “Tribute to Alive Hospice” is an overview of my keyboard conversation with James, including his lyrics and an mp3 link for listening.

In an email exchange a few days ago I asked James,
“What would you say was your inspiration or motivation to create "Holy Ground" and didn't you share it with Hospice staff privately?"
 
Below is his heartfelt response.

“Easy question—

It was the hospice resident who was a music teacher. She even commented on the Medics’ pitch after we sang one of our songs. And we all had a good laugh together from her response!

But it was really an extra emotional experience for me when we sang “It is Well” for her and we knew/we could so easily see she was so intensely focused on that moment with us while we sang.
I thought I would lose all composure. I had to stop looking at her face while we sang. Fortunately I held it together.

But when I arrived home from the hospice I truly felt like my head/heart might explode any moment. I’ve never been so emotionally touched by our singing at the hospice for other residents. I couldn’t focus on anything other than the experience. I walked around inside our house in circles for several minutes wondering what I should do.

I was home alone.

So I sat at the kitchen table with pen and pad and tears in my eyes and wrote the lyrics—no music—they literally gushed out of my brain.
I wrote so fast I could hardly read my writing. About an hour went by and it seemed like a few minutes and the lyrics—my hospice experience— were completely finished. I’d never written a song so quickly. God’s spirit truly gave the words to me.

Seriously,no thought. I just recorded what fell into my brain. Days later I completed the music, and then the following month the Medics returned to hospice and I gave Julie a copy of a demo. She and several hospice staff in her office listened with tears in their eyes.

“Holy Ground” is my only song that has affected listeners so intensely.
 For me, singing with the Medics that day at Alive Hospice truly was a glimpse of eternity”


Without doubt the Nashville Music Medics have shared that this outreach and ministry in song is the most meaningful thing we have ever done with our love of Barbershop Quartet four-part harmony.

 “Changing the World one smile at a time”               
 “Making a small but positive difference in troubled lives is a task worth repeating”


On behalf of the Nashville Music Medics and James here is a link for a listen to “Holy Ground”, James Russell © 2024
                                                           As well as his beautiful poignant lyrics.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
Use this link to listen to “Holy Ground”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GvLsN2C2-ZcAplJ7Pa1aeE3Z1iPG9VKg/view?usp=sharing


                                                                                                   
  
                                                                           

By Sam English, Webmaster, on behalf of NashvilleMusicMedics.org


“Holy Ground”  James Russell
-Hospice is breath between heaven and earth
Tears of joy, tears of fear, tears of rebirth
Where angels stand guard night and day
A moment in time when music plays.
 
Singing on holy ground
A blessing in disguise
Singing on holy ground
A glimpse of eternity
Singing on holy ground
And it changed me.
 
Lift up our voices in prayerful devotion
We ask for wisdom in a focused moment
How to serve God's precious children
Who wait in frail bodies ready for closure.
 
Singing on holy ground
A blessing in disguise
Singing on holy ground
A glimpse of eternity
Singing on holy ground
And it changed me.
 
A teacher, a veteran, or my next door neighbor
Their time is precious, earthly lives almost surrendered
Life's story on rewind, details to savor
Victories and defeats, much to remember.
 
Singing on holy ground
A blessing in disguise
Singing on holy ground
A glimpse of eternity
Singing on holy ground
And it changed me.
 
James Russell (c) 2024
NashvilleMusicMedics.org
Dedicated to AliveHospice.org