Andrew Katay and redemption

I first heard Andrew Katay preach when I was a student minister at St Andy's Wahroonga in the mid 1980s. I followed him to a church somewhere in Hornsby (St Pete's? can't remember) where I was treated to the sight of him machine-gunning the congregation while re-enacting, from the pulpit, the rescue of the Israeli hostages at Entebbe airport.

He was illustrating the notion of redemption.

You know, the idea that you are caught and held hostage by forces far greater than yourself, and someone—at enormous personal cost—comes and rescues you from those powerful forces, just as the Lord Jesus, by the ransom of his blood, rescued us from the power and penalty of sin, the wrath of God, and the power of Satan.

Fear not. No actual guns were used, and no congregation members were harmed in the delivery of this sermon.

I've heard some brilliant Katay talks since then, but I'm afraid they were all downhill from that high point—at least in the drama stakes. Not one mimed machine gun in evidence from that time on.

Fifi works at Katay's wife's vet practice once a week, grooming dogs. I'm not quite sure where that fits in to any of this, but I felt I had to say it for some reason.