“You know what I’ve heard about girls like you?”

“Messy, bookish girls like me? Wait, what have you heard?”

How does an introverted, untidy pastor’s daughter cope with a fastidious mother, a perpetual lack of privacy, mean Lutheran girls, and adults who expect her to turn the other cheek or pray on demand?

In I Don’t Want to Have the Prayer: A Messy Pastor’s Kid Does Her Memory Work, Karen Kuhlmann Averitt pulls back the curtain on parsonage life and reveals what it was like growing up with an audience of curious, big-hearted, and sometimes exasperating church members. With irreverent humor, Karen reflects on the ridiculous and remarkable aspects of being a pastor’s kid while recalling with affection and gratitude the gifts of friendship, family, and faith.