One of the main thrusts of Deuteronomy 26 is the call to continually renew (remember) our vertical relationship to God, a relationship that is, by its nature, deeply rooted in the Judaeo-Christian tradition and the whole history of salvation. We need to remember that we are not simply "now" people, but are, basically, a continuing part of a history that is founded in and rooted in a vertical relationship to God who chose us. Hence, that entire history from Creation on down through the Old and New Testaments and …