After sticking close to home for over a year, I’ve returned to in-person worship at my church in Oklahoma.

I’ve joined my sons and 2-year-old grandson in watching a game at my beloved Texas Rangers’ splashy new ballpark.

I’ve boarded an airplane and — for the first time since the pandemic hit — made a reporting trip (to Minneapolis this past weekend after Derek Chauvin’s conviction in George Floyd’s murder).

For millions, the COVID-19 vaccines have brought joy and hope, and I count myself among them after receiving my two Moderna shots.

Weekend Plug-in has covered various angles related to the vaccines and religion — from whether the shots are “morally compromised” to efforts to overcome skepticism among wary African Americans.

Still, the topic remains timely and important, as evidenced by interesting stories published just this past week:

• COVID-19 has hit the Amish community hard. Still, vaccines are a tough sell (by Anna Huntsman, NPR)

• Francis Collins urges evangelicals: ‘Love your neighbor,’ get COVID-19 vaccine (by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

• At Orange County mosques, they come for the halal tacos and stay for the vaccination (by Alejandra Molina, RNS)

• Churches, Christian universities hosting COVID-19 vaccine clinics (by Chellie Ison, Christian Chronicle)

• For evangelical leader Jamie Aten, advocating for vaccines led to a death threat (by Bob Smietana, RNS)

Also, in case you missed it last week, Ryan Burge offers fascinating analysis here at ReligionUnplugged on data showing White evangelicals and Catholics are more likely to get the vaccine than religious “nones” and the general public. Yes, you read that right.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. ‘If you have eyes, plagiarize’: When borrowing a sermon goes too far: “Just a bonkers story from Bob Smietana,” tweets Smietana’s Religion News Service colleague Jack Jenkins.

To which I respond:

1. Yes.

2. What Smietana story isn’t bonkers (be it an end-times cat cult or a beloved worship song’s role in spiritual abuse)? But definitely, don’t miss this latest crazy piece by Smietana or his related report on “Why some preachers rely on holy ghostwriters and other pulpit helps.”

Also, Smietana — who presumably never sleeps — writes this week about how “The beloved church coffee hour may soon return as COVID-19 fades.”

2. U.S. Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking Communion: “When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their next national meeting in June, they’ll be deciding whether to send a tougher-than-ever message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: Don’t receive Communion if you persist in public advocacy of abortion rights,” reports The Associated Press’ David Crary.

CONTINUE READING: “Do You Believe In Medical Miracles? The Timely Subject Of Religion And COVID-19 Vaccines,” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.