 Fy blwi! F [...]gehtad ag writing of part rings You need to go on ever You should go until we got the report That was interesting because it was interesting not to tell, but to say that you were there too many things I wonder if I might just as respectfully ask you to do the same at the end of this time for reflection. I want to reflect for a moment on the symbol of our parish, yours and mine, here in the Canangate, a cross set amongst the antlers of a stag. It can be seen most vividly on the gable end of the roof high above the front door of Canangate Kirk, but elsewhere too from the war memorial against the tall booth to the gates of the palace. It traces our story back through the mists of time to the days of King David I, the son of the saintly Queen Margaret. One day in 1128, the king went hunting in the forest around Arthur's seat, but something went wrong. He came off his horse and was left defenseless on the ground while an angry stag approached its sharp antlers. The king prayed that he might survive this deadly encounter, and as he prayed, legend has it, he had a vision of the cross of Jesus between the antlers of the stag, which suddenly stopped in its tracks and withdrew quietly to the forest. The king regained his horse and rode back up the hill to the castle, where in his thankfulness for deliverance, he vowed to build an abbey close to the place where his life was spared. The story of the abbey of the Holy Rood, which means Holy Cross in old language, began to take shape all those centuries ago. An abbey that would give its name to the palace that evolved out of its guest house and eventually to this whole part of town. This side of Easter, Christians see the cross as a sign of our thankfulness for deliverance too, from the darkness of sin and death, to the brightness of new life and hope. The cross among the antlers still proclaims to us all the power of the faith that endures through the centuries, through all the challenging encounters of our day, through the horns of every dilemma.