We are a Church of England parish with a strong tradition of music in worship, where all are very welcome. As an ancient Church in the centre of Durham, St Oswald's is a reservoir of peace for all who enter it.

The Sunday Eucharist is at 11:00am, and we have a play and books corner by the font for any younger worshipper who feels a parent or carer would enjoy it there. Evensong is at 6:00pm on Sundays, either in the chancel, or roughly every other week during term time when the usual hymns expand to a full choral setting, in the body of the church. Midweek Holy Communion is at 10:00am on Wednesdays, and the church is usually open from 9:30am till round about 5:00pm (or dusk, if earlier) on weekdays.

Wednesday, 20th May 2026 - Ascensiontide: The Feast of St Alcuin of York, Deacon, Abbot of Tours, 804 [Lesser Festival]

Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia. 

Gospel Acclamation, Ascension to Pentecost - Common Worship 

A Passage of Scripture from Today's Common Worship Morning Prayer:

A Lamp Under a Jar

‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.’

Luke 8:16-18, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition 

The Collect of the Day:

O God of wisdom, eternal light, who didst shine in the heart of thy servant Alcuin, revealing to him thy power and pity: scatter the darkness of our ignorance that, with all our heart and mind and strength, we may seek thy face and be brought with all thy saints into thy holy presence; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship

A Prayer for all who are Affected by the Current Outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):

God of all hope,

we cry to you for all who wrestle with Ebola.

Grant we pray,

Your healing to the sick,

Your peace to the fearful,

Your welcome to the dying and

Your comfort to those living with loss.

And, merciful Father,

bless those many loving hands

That bravely offer care and hope.

God of healing, whose Son healed those who were brought to him,

Hear our prayer for the peoples of DR Congo suffering from the Ebola outbreak.

Inspire and enable your church to be a source of healing, comfort and hope to those affected,

and an agent for the education and equipping of communities to stop the spread of this disease.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The Anglican Alliance

A Poem for the Feast of St Alcuin:

On the Saints at the Church of York

THERE the Eboric scholars felt the rule

Of Master Ælbert, teaching in the school.

Their thirsty hearts to gladden well he knew

With doctrine’s stream and learning’s heavenly dew.

To some he made the grammar understood,

And poured on others rhetoric’s copious flood.

The rules of jurisprudence these rehearse,

While those recite in high Eonian verse,

Or play Castalia’s flutes in cadence sweet

And mount Parnassus on swift lyric feet.

Anon the master turns their gaze on high

To view the travailing sun and moon, the sky

In order turning with its planets seven,

And starry hosts that keep the law of heaven.

The storms at sea, the earthquake’s shock, the race

Of men and beasts and flying fowl they trace;

Or to the laws of numbers bend their mind,

And search till Easter’s annual day they find.

Then, last and best, he opened up to view

The depths of Holy Scripture, Old and New.

Was any youth in studies well approved,

Then him the master cherished, taught, and loved;

And thus the double knowledge he conferred

Of liberal studies and the Holy Word.

St Alcuin

A Prayer for Ascensiontide:

We praise you and we bless you, our risen Lord Jesus, King of glory, for in your ascension you are crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. As we worship you on your heavenly throne, prepare our hearts for the coming of your Spirit. To you, Lord Jesus, who will come back in the same way you went up into heaven, be honour and glory, now and for ever.

Amen.

Seventeenth Station (XVII), The Ascension - Stations of the Resurrection (The Way of Light, Via Lucis), Common Worship 

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

May 2026 - Gateshead and Gateshead West Deaneries

The Prayer of St Oswald of Northumbria:

Let us together implore the living and true and almighty God in his mercy to defend us against the pride and fierceness of our enemy; for that God knows our cause is just, and that we fight for the salvation of our nation.

Amen. 

Prayed by King Oswald with his Army on the Battlefield on the Eve of the Battle of Heavenfield, AD634