Christians struggle with mental illness just like everybody else. So why aren't more Christians seeking help? Benton and Elane discuss misconceptions about mental illness in the church.

Cocktail: Black Walnut Old Fashioned

Theme song: "Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)" recorded by Benton Stokes. Full song available wherever you stream music.

Elane and Benton discuss the characteristics of a "just war," pacifism versus passivity, and when it's okay for a Christian to support a war.

Cocktail: The William Henry Harrison

Theme song: "Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)" by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Full song available wherever you stream music.

Elane and Benton demystify and unweaponize the phrase "born again" as they start a new season of Cocktail Theology.

Cocktail: Gin & Danger (from the Cocktail Theology Cocktail Book)

Theme song: "Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)" by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Full song available wherever you stream music.

Michael-Ray Mathews is an ordained American Baptist minister, Host of the Prophetic Resistance podcast, and Deputy Director of Faith in Action, a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.

Elane and Benton talk with Michael-Ray about racial reconciliation, what we can learn from our ancestors, and addressing issues of social injustice within the church.

Morning Cocktail

Coffee for us. Tea for our guest.

Music Credits

“Sacred” Words & music by Benton Stokes. 

Copyright 2019 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. 

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

 

Responding to a listener’s request for help raising a gender nonbinary child, Benton and Elane discuss parenting, holy listening, their own journeys, and our need to accept ourselves the way God accepts us.

Recorded in Truckee, California in September 2020.

Cocktail: Wine.

Music Credits

"The Guy I'm Growing Up To Be" Words & music by Benton Stokes. Available on the EP Love Is The Way Back Home--stream it on Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music!

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Available on Grace & Gravity  (CD on BentonStokes.com; digitally on Amazon and iTunes)

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

In Episode 45, Benton  and Elane discuss the challenges around calling Jesus “Lord,” how to reconcile Jesus the man and the Jesus the Christ, and how the glorified, eternal Jesus was able to pick up bread after his resurrection. So many conundrums!

Recorded in Truckee, California in September 2020.

Morning Cocktail

More coffee.

Music Credits

“It Is Well With My Soul” Words & music by Horatio Gates Spafford and Philip Paul Bliss. Public Domain. Performed by Benton Stokes.

“Be Thou My Vision” Words & music by Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne. Public Domain. Performed by Benton Stokes.

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Available on Grace & Gravity  (CD on BentonStokes.com; digitally on Amazon and iTunes)

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Benton and Elane talk classic cocktails. And nomenclature. Over Manhattans.

Recorded in Truckee, California in September 2020.

Cocktail

Manhattan

Music Credits

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Available on Grace & Gravity  (CD on BentonStokes.com; digitally on Amazon and iTunes)

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

In Episode 43, Elane and Benton talk about the challenges of loving God and loving your neighbor in an America that is antagonistic to people who follow God in the way of Jesus--and no, they aren't talking about evangelicals.

Recorded in Truckee, California in September 2020.

Morning Cocktail

More coffee.

Music Credits

“Now” Words & music by Benton Stokes

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Available on Grace & Gravity  (CD on BentonStokes.com; digitally on Amazon and iTunes)

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Recorded in Truckee, CA as part of The Truckee Sessions, Elane and Benton discuss what worship is and what (and who) Christians worship. Hint: it's not always God.

Music Credits

“Devoted” Words & music by Benton Stokes

Our theme music: “Moving On (Feels Pretty Good)”. Words & music by Benton Stokes & Janine Smith. Available on Grace & Gravity  (CD on BentonStokes.com; digitally on Amazon and iTunes)

Copyright 2018 Songs From the Basement (BMI).  All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Elane and Benton chat with Judge Tim Fall, author of Running For Judge, where he describes the perils of running for reelection in Sacramento, the anxiety he suffered, and the kind of faith that brought him through. 

Recorded in the first days of Shelter In Place in the morning, Benton and Elane were drinking coffee. Lots of coffee.