Afghanistan as Pivotal Preparation

When public life feels loud and divided, what does quiet faithfulness look like? In the US House of Representatives, every legislative day begins with prayer. This responsibility rests with the chaplain of the house and shapes the daily spiritual rhythms of the institution.

"Chaplains aren't combatants. We carry no weapon."

On January 3, 2021, Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben was elected by the House to be its sixty-first chaplain. She offers daily prayer and steady pastoral presence and care in one of the most visible and contested institutions in American life.

In this conversation with Mark Labberton, she reflects on vocation, pastoral identity, pluralism, crisis leadership, prayer in public life, and the quiet discipline of blessing those entrusted with leadership. She reflects on her early call to ministry as a teen, her formation as a military chaplain to the Navy, a defining season in Afghanistan, and her unexpected path to serving in the House.

Together they discuss confidential care, advising leaders, the ministry of presence, praying across differences, the history of prayer in Congress, and how to bless leaders without turning prayer into a tool of ideology.

Episode Highlights

"I had a sense of call to ministry when I was about fourteen."

"Chaplains are where it matters, when it matters, with what matters."

"What is your theology of ministry?"

"It is the ninety-nine who were leaving the room that needed the shepherd."

"God is on his throne. He hasn't stepped down."

About Margaret Grun Kibben

Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben serves as the sixty-first chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she previously completed a thirty-five-year career in the US Navy, including service as the twenty-sixth chief of Navy chaplains and director of religious ministry for the Department of the Navy. In that role, she advised senior naval leadership and oversaw chaplains serving sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen around the world. She holds degrees from Goucher College and Princeton Theological Seminary and earned a doctor of ministry focused on theology and leadership. Her ministry has included deployments overseas and senior-level advisement in complex, pluralistic environments.

Helpful Links And Resources

• Office of the Chaplain, US House of Representatives: https://chaplain.house.gov
• US House Chaplain YouTube Channel (Daily Prayers before Sessions) https://www.youtube.com/@USHouseChaplain
• January 6, 2026 Prayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQLhXt3gWBg

Show Notes

• Call to ministry at fourteen; early clarity of vocation
• Presbyterian upbringing and the influence of youth pastor Blair Mooney
• Visit to the Naval Academy and discernment of Navy chaplaincy
• Integrating Christian ministry with military service
• "Chaplains aren't combatants. We carry no weapon."
• Serving people in uniform, not serving an institution as ideology
• Four core capabilities: provide, facilitate, care, advise
• Religious pluralism in the armed forces; more than 200 faith traditions
• Protecting sacraments, holy days, and dietary practices in deployment settings
• Facilitating worship for traditions not one's own
• Confidential communication and priest-penitent privilege across beliefs
• "There is 100 percent confidentiality."
• Advising commanders on ethics, conscience, and moral complexity
• Early overwork, burnout, and lack of pastoral identity
• Mentorship and formation in the first years of service
• "What is your theology of ministry?"
• Doctor of Ministry studies and theological self-understanding
• Afghanistan deployment as convergence of preparation and calling
• "There wasn't a day… that I didn't have a sense that God had prepared me for that particular moment."
• Retirement discernment and formation of Virtue in Practice
• Unexpected invitation to serve as Chaplain of the House
• Bipartisan search process and interview experience
• Ministry of presence during extended floor sessions and late-night votes
• January 6: emergency, prayer, and calm in uncertainty
• "It is the ninety-nine who were leaving the room that needed the shepherd."
• Daily opening prayer as constitutional tradition since 1789
• 1774 Continental Congress and Psalm 35 as precedent
• Political interpretation of prayer across American history
• "Pray for and not pray on the members."
• Crafting public prayer that blesses without excluding
• "God is on his throne. He hasn't stepped down."

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Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.