The Rev. Bruce Comiskey, minister at Stowe Community Church, likes weddings.
He enjoys counseling starry-eyed couples and he estimates he’s officiated at 810 weddings during his 20 years at the church.
One wedding in particular stands out. A young couple from Minnesota wanted to get married in a hot air balloon and Comiskey was happy to oblige.
The ceremony was less than idyllic. The weather was unusually chilly for September and the shivering bride and groom were crammed into the balloon basket with their wedding party, Comiskey and the balloon pilot.
“I didn’t realize how noisy the propane flame was,” Comiskey said. “It took at least three times longer for me to perform the ceremony because every time I said something, we had to wait for the whoosh of the propane to end before they could respond.”
While descending, the balloon missed the field it was supposed to land in, and ended up in a swamp. Comiskey could only stand by and watch helplessly as the groom rolled up his pants and carried his bride through the murky water.
“It had sounded like a good idea, but I learned that a hot air balloon isn’t a good place to do a wedding,” Comiskey said.
The wedding snafu is just one example of how Comiskey’s sense of humor and laid-back style help him minister to a congregation that includes first-time visitors, longtime Stowe residents, and second-home owners.
The church honored Comiskey Sunday with a party to celebrate his 20 years of service. He became the church minister on Nov. 1, 1987.
That’s a long time for a minister to remain at a church; the average Protestant minister stays less than four years before moving on.
Comiskey is known for his casual manner; congregation members call him Bruce rather than Rev. Comiskey. He’s seen many changes in his flock and the community since arriving in Stowe. He estimates he’s served the equivalent of four different congregations over the years in Stowe, as families have moved away and new families have moved in.
The interdenominational church has a congregation that swells to 175 in the fall and frequently dips to fewer than 80 during the ski season.
There are the familiar pastoral concerns of writing inspiring sermons, raising enough money to heat the sanctuary and pay the organist, and officiating at weddings and funerals. Not to mention the three sermons he preaches every Christmas Eve, each service packed with locals and visitors.
There are also events unique to the church, including an Easter sunrise service on Mt. Mansfield, an annual Mozart Festival and the Handel’s Messiah Sing-in.
And, then there are the weddings. The 19th-century church with its high steeple — one of Stowe’s most famous landmarks — is a popular wedding spot, drawing brides and grooms from throughout Vermont, as well as out-of-state visitors who come to Vermont for destination weddings.
At one point, Comiskey officiated at up to three weddings each weekend. Now, the church books only one wedding per weekend.
When he’s not at the church, Comiskey can usually be found enjoying Stowe’s wealth of outdoor activities. He’s a four-season athlete. He runs, cycles, kayaks, plays tennis and cross-country skis, and frequently runs into members of his congregation during his daily workouts.
Long road to pulpit
For Comiskey, the road to Stowe Community Church didn’t begin with an epiphany in a church sanctuary or the voice of God calling out to him during a quiet moment of prayer.
It was the summers he spent as an Outward Bound instructor, leading youths across the country in a van to experience white-water rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, and cycling, that inspired him to become a minister.
Comiskey, 57, grew up in Verona, N.J., where his parents were elders at the local Presbyterian church and he was active in church youth activities.
He was an athlete lettering in four varsity sports — football, basketball, baseball and track — and planned to become a physician when he entered Rutgers College in 1968.
He switched his major to physical education when his pre-med classes proved to be daunting. Later, as a junior, he was told there was a glut of gym teachers and switched his major to religion, even though he never attended church while at college. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies, intent on becoming a social worker and working through a church.
After taking a year off to travel across the country, surf, and work at his father’s foundry in Newark, N.J., he entered a graduate program at the Princeton Theological Seminary.
While at the seminary, he worked as a social worker counseling low-income families and as a student minister at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, where he assisted with worship, taught confirmation class and did pastoral visitations.
During the summers, he worked with youth as an Outward Bound instructor. In his second summer as an adventure counselor at Frost Valley YMCA Camp in Oliverea, N.Y., he felt called to become a minister.
“That’s where I had my epiphany,” Comiskey said. “I felt God calling me to finish my senior year and focus on becoming a minister.
“I was in a moment of flux. I had finished my first year and I wasn’t focused. I had met my future wife, Katie Alexander, and I wasn’t sure where our relationship was going.”
After graduating from the seminary with graduate degrees in social work and theology, Comiskey was an associate minister at a large United Church of Christ church in Simsbury, Conn., an affluent town northwest of Hartford. He assisted in worship, preached and directed an active youth program.
Three years later, he became minister at the First Congregational Church in Lyndonville, Vt. The work was full-time, but the salary was part-time, so he worked as a football coach at the Lyndon Institute and taught interpersonal communication at Lyndon State College to make ends meet.
Trial by sermon
In the spring of 1986, Phil Chase was retiring as pastor of Stowe Community Church.
The church search committee scouted other churches for a replacement, and eventually asked Comiskey to apply to be the church’s new pastor.
Before Comiskey got the job, he had to survive an audition of sorts. He had to deliver a sermon to the congregation. After it ended, church members would vote on whether to hire him.
“After the sermon, my wife and I went over to the Swisspot to have lunch,” Comiskey recalled. “They came over and asked me to lead the congregation. It was a mutual attraction. I was looking to move up and they were looking to grow.”
Comiskey believes his enthusiasm for outdoor activities and his background as an Outward Bound counselor also factored into the church’s decision to hire him.
“They didn’t want someone who would scream at the congregation because they skipped church to go skiing,” he said. “You have to allow people to make choices. You can’t be judgmental.”
At the time, Comiskey and his wife had two sons, ages 8 and 3, and the community church job was ideal for a young family. Living in the large parsonage across from the church meant he could walk to work and around town; the school system was excellent; and, as a young minister, he would have years to grow with the church.
“They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Comiskey said. “They were going to pay me to do what I’m called to do.”
A diverse flock
Stowe Community Church is an interdenominational church formed in 1920 with the merger of Methodist, Congregational and Universalist churches in Stowe.
In 1863, the Universalists built the building that is now the Stowe Community Church.
It is essentially a Congregational-style church in its worship, ministry and government. Theologically, it is moderate, representing a wide range of Biblical interpretation and social activism.
“Stowe is socially progressive, but traditionally a Republican town,” Comiskey said. “What I find challenging in Stowe is determining how much I can preach on certain social justice issues — affordable housing, poverty, the war in Iraq.”
Members of the diverse congregation have a plethora of views on just about everything, and Comiskey tries to keep that in mind when delivering his messages.
“I’ve learned to preach a sermon, but not to beat people over the head with it,” Comiskey said. “For instance, as a Christian person serving the town, I’m very much in favor of affordable housing, but some people who live next door to it may not be.”
He must walk a fine line between being a spiritual leader and a compassionate friend.
“You have to be a prophetic voice, but you have to be a pastoral voice,” Comiskey said. “You need to know when to step back. You can’t use a bullying pulpit, even though it’s tempting at times.”
When it comes to more divisive issues, it’s usually better to discuss them in a small group, such as a Bible study, rather than address them from the pulpit, he said.
Politics aside
Comiskey’s work as a minister has taught him to love all people, regardless of their political positions.
That was not always the case when he was a young minister at his first church in Lyndonville.
“The town had defeated the school budget three times,” Comiskey said. “I cared about education and was losing my patience with people in my congregation. I was losing my professionalism.”
Churches whose ministers preach politics from the pulpit risk losing their tax-exempt status, but Stowe is a politically engaged town and at times political subjects have come up at the church.
Members of the congregation have stood firmly on both sides of issues such as civil unions and presidential elections.
When the civil union debate came up seven years ago, it was one of the most volatile issues the church had faced, Comiskey said.
The congregation has never held a vote to decide whether civil unions should be performed at the church. Now, the church deacons recommend that they not be performed at the church, but Comiskey can perform them offsite, which he has done a few times.
“We, as a church, may not do civil unions, but we’re open to the needs of the community in every other way,” Comiskey said. “It’s a place where people feel welcome.”
National politics also come up, especially since the war in Iraq started.
The past few presidential elections have “been less than unifying” for the congregation, Comiskey said. The congregation includes Democrats and Republicans and some families who attend are split, with husbands and wives supporting different candidates, he said.
“Ultimately, I’m called to be a pastor and I have to love people whether I agree with them or not,” Comiskey said.
Spiritual awakening
Comiskey has noticed a groundswell in spirituality in Stowe during the six years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“People have gotten more interested in spirituality, but they haven’t necessarily gotten more religious,” Comiskey said. “They have more spiritual questions, but some turn more to yoga than church.”
Spirituality means different things to different people, with some turning to prayer and meditation, others spending time in small-group Bible studies, and others attending church services only to observe major religious holidays such as Easter.
“Within the context of the church, spirituality has more to do with the feeling people get when they’re worshiping,” Comiskey said. “We’ve made some changes to accommodate that, such as more music and candlelight and time for prayer.”
As for his own spiritual path, Comiskey is passionate about reaching out to people of all backgrounds.
“I believe I need to be involved in more ecumenical activities and more secular activities,” Comiskey said. “And I need to be involved with different people.”
He recently offered a sermon at the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe building during Rosh Hashana.
“It was unusual, because Rosh Hashana is a very holy holiday and I felt honored,” Comiskey said.
His original desire to devote his life to social work and his lifelong interest in human rights issues are tightly intertwined with his faith, he said.
“I hope to lead by example and be authentic in what I believe, in terms of God being with us in a very loving, caring way,” Comiskey said. “We need to be compassionate and loving in how we treat each other and forgive each other.”
Article taken from: Stowe Reporter Online