19 Sept 2026
Episode 5: Music as Ministry: Serving Those Who Serve — with Ralph Farris
Twenty-five years after 9/11, I sit down with my dear friend Ralph Farris for a deeply personal conversation about music, service, purpose, community—and what happens when we offer the gifts we have in the places where they are needed most.
Ralph and I first crossed paths in the extraordinary community that formed around St. Paul’s Chapel in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. While I was serving as part of the relief effort, Ralph and an extraordinary community of musicians were discovering another form of service: bringing music into a place filled with exhausted firefighters, police officers, ironworkers, rescue workers, volunteers, and others carrying the unimaginable weight of those days.
Ralph remembers arriving at St. Paul’s wondering if perhaps he could simply “play some Bach in the corner” and see if it helped.
It did.
What began as a simple offering grew into something much larger. Ralph went on to coordinate a volunteer corps of musicians at St. Paul’s Chapel and St. Vincent’s Hospital, helping bring more than 500 performances to those involved in the rescue and recovery effort.
And through that experience, Ralph came to recognize something profound about his own life:
Music was his ministry.
In this special 9/11 anniversary episode of The Coherence Project Podcast: Living in the New Earth, Ralph and I remember those days together and explore what they taught us about usefulness, purpose, healing, love, and community.
We also talk about Ralph’s remarkable musical journey, his work with the genre-bending string quartet ETHEL, and the continuing power of music to reach places words sometimes cannot.
Twenty-five years later, perhaps the message we discovered at St. Paul’s is still the message we need:
Bring what you have.
Serve where you can.
Love one another.
And hold on to the light.
As Ralph reminds us near the end of our conversation:
“Hold on to the light. Hold on to the love that you know is there.”
Diamond Mine Academy is an African-led nonprofit supporting displaced Africans through urgent care and pathways to safety, stability, and independence.
If this conversation touches you, I invite you to help us continue this work. Every contribution—large or small—helps us show up where help is needed.
Help Us Keep Changing Lives:https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/help-us-keep-changing-lives (https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/help-us-keep-changing-lives)
Ralph Farris is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, conductor, producer, educator, and founding member and Co-Artistic Director of ETHEL.
Discover more about Ralph, ETHEL’s music, performances, collaborations, and upcoming events:
https://ethelcentral.org/ (https://ethelcentral.org/)
If this conversation speaks to you, please like, share, and follow The Coherence Project Podcast on Spotify.
And perhaps most importantly, share this episode with someone who might need its message. That simple act helps these conversations—and the hope behind them—continue to travel.
Thank you for being part of this growing community as together we explore what it means to be:
Living in the New Earth.
The Coherence Project Podcast
Music • Community • Healing • Hope ❤️
❤️ SUPPORT DIAMOND MINE ACADEMY🎻 CONNECT WITH RALPH FARRIS & ETHEL❤️ STAY CONNECTED
