Throughout history, men and women from Saint Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa have discovered the power of a “Rule of Life” in helping them to live out their Christian faith. A “Rule” is a solemn, personal commitment to live in a way that is faithful to the decision to love and serve Christ. It is a means of engaging the Biblical paradox: action without faith is useless, but faith without action is dead. Members of the Order of the Mustard Seed throughout history have made a vow to be True to Christ, Kind to People, and to take the Gospel to the Nations. Today, there is a generation that is reviving the old Order for the modern age. They are once again taking up the call to live wholly abandoned to the cause of Christ. The History of the Order of the Mustard Seed Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf was born in Germany in 1700. In 1715, he was part of a spiritual revival at his school. He and four friends who were the main ring-leaders of the revival formed a prayer and accountability group which would become known as the Order of the Mustard Seed. Their society was conceived as a secret order of spiritual knighthood. The emblem of the Order was a medallion bearing a picture of a mustard tree, and a motto in Latin which means “That which was formerly nothing”. Every member wore a ring carrying a Greek inscription meaning “None of us lives for himself”. Count Zinzendorf is known to history as the founder and leader of the renewed Moravian church. The community became pioneers of prayer, mission, and church unity. Why A Mustard Seed? Jesus told his followers that the Kingdom of God would be like a mustard seed, starting invisibly small but growing to become a great tree (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18- 19). He also challenged them that if they had faith “even as big as a mustard seed”, they could tell a mountain to go jump in the sea and it would obey them! (Matthew 17:20, Luke17:6). The mustard seed was chosen to represent all that the Order stood for. The Count believed that with just a tiny amount of faith, much could be accomplished for the Kingdom. Each member of the Order wore a hidden medallion under their clothing that was inscribed with the words “Quod Fuit Ante Nihil”, meaning “That which was formerly nothing”. Zinzendorf stated, “Even if we never see wonders with our own eyes or hear of them with our ears, we are planting the Kingdom of Heaven into the nations and will look for the fruit which grows from it.” A Rule enables us to center our lives on Christ. It calls us back continually to the place of prayer and worship as the life-giving spring from which everything else flows. A Rule can cut across the self-complicating tendency of Christianity, keeping us grounded in Christ’s simple presence. Making a vow is only the start... The challenge is to live the vow in the daily reality of relationships! “None Of Us Lives For Himself!" This is the inscription written on the rings worn by the members of the Order of the Mustard Seed. There are profound implications of this short phrase for any of us who choose to embrace it and wear it, and that is exactly why Count Zinzendorf and his companions chose it. Romans 14:7-8 says, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” A modern retelling of this passage would be the words of Frodo from the Lord of the Rings when he said, “I will take the ring, though I do not know the way.” The first wave of those in the Order of the Mustard Seed took the Gospel to the nations. Many died as a consequence of their mission, while others lost everything, abandoning their lives into poverty and uncertainty far from the familiarity of home, all for the sake of the Kingdom. Where did that outrageous courage come from? Surely from the conviction that “whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”. For more of this article, see http://rcdocuments.s3.amazonaws.com/The%20Order%20of%20the%20Mustard%20Seed.pdf. For more about Zinzendorf, see www.zinzendorf.webs.com.