Welcome to prayer breakfast. Pass the bacon and (ahem), sausage and pour yourself another cup of the dark, hot and steamy for this one from Nancy Mace.

At Tim Scott’s prayer breakfast just the other day, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) decided to dish on the dirty amidst a bunch of Conservatives. And yes, it got awkward.

When I woke up this morning at seven, I was getting picked up at 7:45. Patrick, my fiancé, tried to pull me by my waist over this morning in bed and I was like, ‘No, baby, we don’t got time for that this morning. I got to get to the prayer breakfast and I got to be on time.’ A little TMI.”-Nancy Mace

TMI. You think, Nancy?

I know he can wait. He’s got, we got, I’ll see him later tonight.”-Nancy Mace

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, she is a grown woman and not a child and she could share a bed with her fiancé if she wants. She is also going into marriage number three and has children so chastity is not an issue here. But isn’t sex outside the covenant of marriage a no-no in Christian circles? And, to bring it up at a prayer breakfast no less? Mace quipped back after the anecdote made its rounds:

Glad those in attendance, including [Scott] and my pastor, took this joke in stride.
Pastor Greg and I will have extra to talk about on Sunday. I go to church because I’m a sinner not a saint!”-Nancy Mace

Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.

The trend of talking sex on the pulpit became avant garde when Mark Driscoll, formerly of the giant MarsHill Church, now pastoring in Scottsdale at Trinity Church, co-authored a book with his wife, Grace. From Real Marriage, published January 2012:

Legally and biblically anal sex is permissible for a married couple as Scripture does not forbid it.”-Mark Driscoll

A sphincter says what?!

Now, as a “seeker Christian” back in 2012 who has actually attended some of Driscoll’s sermons in person, I’ve read Real Marriage. And while there are truths in Driscoll’s writings that sex is biblical, and how past sin does not define you in a true union designed by God, I honestly did not need to read about how sex toys and which sex toys were okay to use in the bedroom and how women can appropriately sodomize their husbands.

Sex toys can be beneficial to a marriage. They can heighten the pleasure for one or both partners.”-Pastor Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage

Anybody who has read Real Marriage looking for a way to better love and care for their spouses through being in prayer and unity with them, scheduling those date nights, having time to listen and talk with them and honor them with our time, our words, our daily lives, like me, was shocked to read the chapter, “Can We ____?”

To put it bluntly, the last thing I wanted to visualize is Mark and Grace Driscoll, in the bedroom, with the butt plug. To be honest, this is also one of the many reasons I walked away from my previous church post Mars Hill. I found it incredibly awkward to hear my former pastor (a wannabe Driscoll in many ways) on the pulpit, with kids in attendance, talk about how “hawwwwwwwttttt” his wife is. I found it cringeworthy that this man was up on a pulpit talking about marriage and how it is “Biblical” to have sex at least three times a week with your spouse. And how, if you didn’t, you could not blame your spouse for having the ol’ wandering eye. Shocker that some of those kids in their youth group were already partying on the weekends and having sex after listening to an 50-some-odd-year-old man in Off White shoes and a gold chain talk about his “shawty” (wife) as she sat wearing her designer duds in the front row. I found it creepy and gross.

In some ways, I think this is what some Christians think make Christianity more appealing to those seeking Jesus. No more having sex in the dark with the blights off. In other ways, if we look at the blatant sexuality of everything in our children’s sphere of influence right now in America, this is not the path we want to walk down. From over-sexualized lyrics in music today, to the hyper-focus on sex and gender identity in our schools, it is apparent that what our nation needs is the purity and simplicity found in earnest prayer.

The problem with some Christians is this: they think we want to hear about their steamy sex lives.They think, “windows open, lights on-let’s get freaky-deaky for everyone to watch”, will win over an over-sexualized society to follow Jesus. In truth, our nation needs more mindful, strategic prayer and less of this mindless drivel. Nancy Mace could have done so much more that was truly meaningful at Tim Scott’s prayer breakfast. Mace squandered a valuable opportunity to make an air-headed joke about the very thing that is destroying some of our kids. There is so much more at stake here. Christians, do what you want in your bedrooms once, twice, three or ten times a week for all we care. But, for the love of God (and I mean this), don’t talk about it at on the pulpit or at a prayer breakfast with complete strangers.

Photo Credit: Theo Lauber via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 /Cropped