The Godfather
When Ern Heyne died, an entire city mourned.
Riding the tram in suburban Adelaide one day, I noticed the woman next to me fidgeting in her handbag one minute, peering intently out of the window the next. I asked whether she was okay and she responded she was from the country, and had no idea at which stop to get off. I said she could follow me as her destination was on my way. We chatted and when I discovered she hailed from Port Pirie, I asked if she had any connections with the Lutheran church there. She didn’t, and wanted to know why I had asked. I told her my mother’s eldest brother lived there, and she insisted I elaborate, so I enquired whether she knew of Ern Heyne. She answered incredulously: ‘Everyone knows Pastor Heyne!’
‘Here I am, Lord, SEND ME’… when you offer your service to God in gratitude, he will take you up on it.
A former primary school teacher, Ern made a huge impact on this large regional centre in the Mid-North of South Australia. Ordained in January 1964, he was installed in the Port Pirie Lutheran Church soon after and continued to serve there until he retired (officially) in December 1997.
In 2014 he was honoured for 50 years of service to Port Pirie in a civic reception, reflecting his great passion for – and ongoing service to – the city and its people. In his own words (‘My Say’, The Recorder, 2012), ‘When I was appointed as pastor of the Port Pirie Lutheran Church, there were people in the big smoke who, in their ignorance, said, “Port Pirie?” My simple response was “Yes. I prayed last night I would get Pirie”.’
He was bound to make an impact, though when he first arrived, sporting long hair and riding a motorbike, one parishioner inquired who he was!
This was a man who sincerely said ‘Here I am, Lord, send me’. I’ve learnt that when you offer your service to God in gratitude, our Father will take you up on it – and use you to be his hands and feet to glorify Him.
This was a match literally made in heaven. In his own inimitable style, Ern reckoned that God thought, ‘Ern’s a bit rough, Pirie’s a bit rough, they’ll get on great’. He often said he would not want to be anywhere else, ‘I look in people’s faces and I think, “Port Pirie is the most beautiful place in the world”.’ (The Recorder, 18 September 2014)
Ern’s commitment to caring for the people of Pirie was evident in the 2,132 weekly columns he wrote for The Recorder – ‘My Say’ – spanning 41 years, the final on 19 November 2015, only 18 days before he died. Even when he was overseas visiting the children’s home (House of Hope) he sponsored in Sumatra or seeing his nephew working in Uganda, Ern filed an article. Featuring both everyday issues and broader social topics, they ‘enlightened and inspired people, but also enraged some or caused strong debate’. I have read hundreds of the provocative pieces, infused with personal observations and childhood reminiscences. The latter were arguably to illustrate the importance he placed on faith, family values and forgiveness. One editorial in The Recorder (9 August 2011) put it this way, ‘Ern is a quiet believer in his faith who has his say, but never forces his opinions on anyone. With congeniality to the broader community, relating to everyone, he is a friend, confidant, mentor and mate to many and is known simply as a great bloke’.
He also had his say on a weekly TV program ‘Panel Probe’ (GTS Channel 4), co-hosting with Dr Noel Hutchens and Father Eugene Hurley (now Bishop of Darwin) for 17 years in the 1970s and 80s. It was a show characterised by discussion on social problems in an authentic, yet entertaining manner. Bishop Hurley was a lifelong friend – the two worked together in the Australia Post sorting room while studying for the ministry at their respective seminaries in Adelaide. The Bishop returned to Pirie to give the eulogy at Ern’s funeral (held in the Catholic cathedral as the Lutheran church would not have been big enough!).
And yet, Ern Heyne was also my quirky bachelor uncle – and my Godfather. In a recent letter to me, he thanked me for the love I had shown him. He also asked my forgiveness for failing to carry out his responsibilities as well as he should have. I was staggered – given the profoundly positive influence he had on my life and faith! He directed me to Romans 12 as ‘a lamp for my feet’ and, as I read its central messages of being a living sacrifice of humble service in the body of Christ, and love in action, it occurred to me this was exactly what he modelled: to me, to his seven younger siblings and their 26 kids, to his beloved flock in Pirie.
Ern was – for all intents and purposes – a godfather to many.
Some memories from my childhood point to this. Comprised of holidays in Pirie with my siblings/cousins – the straight-talking lessons we received from him in curbing our pride or selfishness aside – we had a ball. We played in one of the many sport teams he coached (under the name ‘Lutherettes’, who at their peak constituted 28 netball, softball, football, and baseball teams). A recent post on Facebook reflected this: ‘What a great man … responsible for triggering my love of sport … he’d pick us up in his packed station wagon and take us to matches around the region … Lutheran Junior Colts will always have a strong base in my heart. I hope I can reflect even just some of his values in my life’.
We attended the youth camps he ran at Melrose at the base of Mount Remarkable, in the Flinders Ranges. Another Facebook post, this time from a man who attended the camps, now a school teacher: ‘I had the privilege of spending some time with him again recently after not having seen him for 20 years – the stubborn old bugger hasn’t changed a bit. Pastor Heyne had a wonderfully positive effect on my life during my teen years. In Port Pirie, his no-bull, tough love approach has helped shape the psyche of the entire city’.
We accompanied him to services at St Andrew’s Port Pirie, and St John’s Crystal Brook (later, he also served Woomera and Roxby Downs in the State’s north, and took a service at the Port Germein community church (30km north of Pirie) for more than three decades, into his 89th year), as well as to lunches with parishioners, and on his trademark home visits.
We struggled to keep up with him as he strode down church aisles to take a service or the streets of Port Pirie to engage with folk who would stop to say hello, hang out of a car window to wave and call out, or approach him when he entered a shop, cafe or pub. I was always intrigued at the number of people Uncle Ern knew by name. The scope of his cheeky, lopsided grin and compassion knew no bounds – for him, age, race, religion or social status did not figure.
And yes, the stranger on the tram spoke of how he helped her sick husband through a rough patch and assisted her son to obtain work.
Such is the legacy of this servant of Christ.
For him, people were more important than money and things. ‘We came to understand that one of the higher crimes against humanity was to be tighter than a fish’s proverbial with one’s money. The love of, or preoccupation with money, is a barrier to our ability to be truly available to others and receptive to their needs.’ My brother, Nathan Zweck, rated this as the first of Ern’s enduring lessons for him – the second being ‘Start every day with 20 minutes of prayer’. The forgiveness of Christ energised Ern for the work of a new day. ‘It would be hard to find someone with a stronger work ethic, because it was born of the clearest sense of what his years on earth were about’, Nathan said. ‘His calling to do God’s work did not stop at 3 o’clock in the morning, or on public holidays, or when he turned 65. He relished the opportunity to serve the community in whatever way he was asked to’.
In 2010 Ern was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to the LCA and the community of Port Pirie. As a friend (Pastor Rodney Witmitz) wrote in a letter to the editor (The Recorder, 17 December 2015), ‘Ern was … the pastor to the city rather than just to a congregation’. Indeed, it’s been estimated that he conducted more than 1000 burials, 1000 baptisms, and 1000 weddings – with less than half of these for members of his own congregation!
The Recorder devoted three and a half pages to articles and tributes about Ern (10 December 2015), and the love and respect they show for this pastor who didn’t quite fit the mould, is palpable. ‘It is amazing this one person could have so much respect from the whole city. I doubt if we will see such a person ever again.’ ‘I am going to miss our chats and your endeavour to keep me on the right track through life. Save a spot next to you in heaven for me.’
Always eager to meet his Saviour – and to beat his younger brothers and sisters to heaven – Ern won the race. (In 2014, his nephew Dr David Heyne produced a documentary Race You to Heaven, featuring the eight Heyne siblings, then aged from 74 to 87). He passed peacefully in the Port Pirie hospital on 7 December 2015 and, as requested, the song Here I am Lord accompanied his funeral cortege from St Mark’s Cathedral:
Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart.
And so he did.
Dr Tick Zweck is Senior Lecturer at Tabor Adelaide (School of Humanities and Social Sciences), and is married to Peter Behrndt. She has one son, who is named after Ern – Elijah Bernhardt.
This feature story comes from The Lutheran February 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.
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