阅读经文 

当我们想到我们蒙召奉耶稣的名去爱和尊重的那些邻舍时，我们也要记着，领导我们的人也是我们的邻舍，爱和尊重他们也是重要的。

我们当中大部分人都欣赏优秀的领袖，我们一般都会尊敬领导我们的人。所以，领导人忠心服侍，是非常重要的；他们需要尽心竭力来获得和维护人们对他们的信任。

我们当中大部分人也明白，作领导人不容易。领导人是被委派或被选拔出来的，他们的责任是引导我们作决定和带动整个群体的发展；面对危机和挣扎时，他们更需要智慧来领导众人。

和写希伯来书那个年代一样，我们今天的教会群体，也有基督徒牧者和其他宗教领袖。当他们致力以敬虔的智慧来领导我们时，我们需要去爱和尊敬他们，为他们祷告。

在今天，很多基督徒在接种疫苗、种族公义、气候变化、性倾向等等事情上采取对立的阵线，真是可悲。陷在这些张力中，基督徒领袖若要指引人以可行的方式来避免右倾或左倾带来的后果，就格外艰巨了。

就让我们忠心为我们的宗教领袖祷告吧。惟愿他们能放胆侍奉，有聪明智慧，能够引导我们“行公义，好怜悯，存谦卑的心，与（我们）的神同行”。（参弥 6:8）

As we think about the neighbors we are called to love and respect for Jesus’ sake, it’s important to remember that our leaders are our neighbors too.

Most of us appreciate good leadership and generally look up to our leaders. So it’s very important for leaders to serve faithfully. To the best of their ability, they need to earn and maintain the trust that people have in them. Most of us also realize that being a leader is not easy. Leaders are appointed or elected to guide us in making decisions and moving us ahead as a community. And they are called to lead wisely in times of crisis and struggle.

In our church communities today, as in the time when Hebrews was written, we have Christian pastors and other religious leaders. And we need to love, respect, and pray for them as they aim to lead with godly wisdom.

Sadly, many Christians today are polarized over vaccinations, racial justice, climate change, sexuality, and more. Within these tensions, it can be especially difficult for Christian leaders to call people to follow Jesus in practical ways without fallout from the right or the left.

Let’s pray faithfully for our religious leaders. May they serve boldly and wisely in calling us “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with [our] God” (see Micah 6:8).