Applications are open for choral and organ scholarships at St Oswald's for this academic year, 2026-7. These roles are particularly suited to those in full-time education, particularly at Durham University, or who are preparing to apply for university or cathedral choral or organ awards.Applications are welcome from organists and singers of all voice parts; to apply, please email David Harris at d.m.harris108@gmail.com with a summary of your relevant experience. Deadline for applications is Sunday 5th October, with auditions being held during the following week.Illustration Credit: Hepzibah McLeod
11:00am - Harvest Thanksgiving Sung Parish Eucharist (Common Worship) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute Officiant and Preacher: The Reverend John McManners ***Non-perishable food donations for the food bank would be greatly appreciated.***4:00pm - Harvest Tea and Produce Sale in the Institute6:00pm - Said Evening Prayer with Hymns (Book of Common Prayer)Officiant: Mr Andy JonesFor the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.Deuteronomy 8:7-10, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized EditionEternal God, you crown the year with your goodness and you give us the fruits of the earth in their season: grant that we may use them to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.Amen.The Collect for Harvest Thanksgiving, Common Worship
Churches have begun observing this year’s Season of Creation (also called Creationtide), from Tuesday 1st September to Sunday 4th October. At a time when communities around the world battle extremes of floods and drought, this year’s theme of ‘Living Water’ is an important call to care for God’s creation and our common home. The Season of Creation – with the ‘Feast of Creation in Christ’ taking place on either 1st September or the first Sunday of September (also known as Creation Sunday), as the centre - celebrates God as Creator, and invites churches to love and care for the gift of creation.The observance was first established in 1989 by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I, who proclaimed 1st September as a Day of Prayer for Creation for the Orthodox Church. It was subsequently adopted by wider Christian Communions. In 2007, the Third European Ecumenical Assembly proposed extending the single day of prayer into a five-week ecumenical season, leading the World Council of Churches to invite global Christian communities to celebrate. Pope Francis established a Catholic World Day of Prayer in 2015 following his Encyclical Laudato Si’.In 2026, the Feast of Creation in Christ has been adopted into the Revised Common Lectionary, which shapes the Christian year and liturgical calendar in many churches, including the Church of England, which as of earlier this year, now officially observes the first Sunday of September as the Feast of Creation in Christ.Further information can be found by clicking on the YouTube video and links below.***For details of local ecumenical services and events for this year's Season of Creation organized by Durham Churches Together, please see the 'Services and events' section of this site.***The Prayer for the Season of Creation 2026:Holy God, whose Spirit hovered over the waters at the beginning, we gather as part of your community of all creation, thirsty for your grace. We give thanks for the gift of water, the veins of our common home, that sustains the cedar and the whale, the pasture and the city. We are grateful for the local waters that nourish our homelands and our fellow creatures. We give thanks that in your well-watered garden, every drop is a sacred testament to your love. Yet, we confess that we have treated this gift as a mere commodity. We have choked the seas with our waste and watched the warming tides rise in judgment. We lament the cracked earth of the drought-stricken and the salty tears of the climate refugee. Melt our frozen hearts, O God, and let the waters of repentance flow.Lord of all Life, you promised that wherever the river flows, everything shall live. Stir in us a calling to care for the waters — to protect the watershed, defend the rights of water, and honour the dignity of the thirsty. May your Word be a spring within us, gushing forth for the healing of the nations.May God our Father who brought water from the rock sustain us in the desert. May Christ our Lord who is Living Water refresh us for the work of restoration. And may the Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.Season of Creation (Resources)
Sunday, 20th September 2026 - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity11:00am - Parish Eucharist (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute4:00pm - Durham Churches Together United Service for the Season of Creation followed by Light Refreshments at Waddington Street United Reformed Church, Durham, DH1 4BG (please see note below)6:00pm - Said Evensong with Hymns (BCP) Tuesday - Ordinary Time (Creationtide)1:00pm - Durham Churches Together Season of Creation 3rd Study Session at Waddington Street United Reformed Church, Durham, DH1 4BGCommences with tea/coffee and (optional) bring-your-own lunch.No need to register but if convenient please let charles.jolly13@btinternet.com know if you hope to attend.. Studies are 'stand alone', so please come on days that are possible for you.Wednesday - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): Ember Day9:00am - Oasis10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP) Sunday, 27th September 2026 - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): Harvest Thanksgiving; The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity11:00am - Parish Eucharist with Harvest Thanksgiving (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute (please see note below)4:00pm - Harvest Tea in the Institute (please see note below)6:00pm - Said Evensong with Hymns (BCP)Tuesday - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): The Feast of St Michael and All Angels1:00pm - Durham Churches Together Season of Creation 4th Study Session at Waddington Street United Reformed Church, Durham, DH1 4BG Commences with tea/coffee and (optional) bring-your-own lunch.No need to register but if convenient please let charles.jolly13@btinternet.com know if you hope to attend.. Studies are 'stand alone', so please come on days that are possible for youWednesday - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): The Feast of St Jerome of Stridon, Translator of the Scriptures, Teacher of the Faith, 420 [Commemoration]9:00am - Oasis10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP) Friday - Ordinary Time (Creationtide)9:00am - School Harvest Thanksgiving Service (please see note below)Sunday, 4th October 2026 - Ordinary Time (Creationtide): Dedication Festival; The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity; The Last Day of Creationtide11:00am - Parish Eucharist (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute6:00pm - Said Evensong with Hymns (BCP)Wednesday - Ordinary Time9:00am - Oasis10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP)Sunday, 11th October 2026 - Ordinary Time: The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity11:00am - Parish Eucharist (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute6:00pm - Choral Evensong (BCP) Tuesday - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Edward the Confessor, King of England, 1066 [Lesser Festival]2:00pm - Tea & Talk in the Institute Wednesday - Ordinary Time9:00am - Oasis10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP)Saturday - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, C107 [Lesser Festival]12:30pm - Wedding Sunday, 18th October 2026 - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Luke the Evangelist11:00am - Parish Eucharist (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute6:00pm - Said Evensong with Hymns (BCP)Wednesday - Ordinary Time9:00am - Oasis10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP)Sunday, 25th October 2026 - Ordinary Time: The Last Sunday after Trinity11:00am - Parish Eucharist (CW) followed by Tea and Coffee in the Institute6:00pm - Choral Evensong (BCP) Wednesday - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Simon and St Jude, Apostles10:00am - Midweek Holy Communion (BCP)***Please see the Calendar of Services attached.*** Durham Churches Together United Service for the Season of Creation 2026: Theme - 'Living Water: Biodiversity as God’s blessing.' 4:00pm this Sunday, 20th September at Waddington Street United Reformed Church, Durham, DH1 4BG.Everybody is welcome to this celebration of God's wonderful creation.Please stay after the service for a tea or coffee and biscuits.Harvest Thanksgiving 2026: Our Harvest Thanksgiving Service will take place on Sunday 27th September, with Harvest Tea at 4:00pm in the Institute. There will be a produce stall at our Harvest Tea, so any donations of fruit, jams etc will be most welcome. Please do join in this always enjoyable occasion.The school's Harvest Thanksgiving Service will take place in Church on Friday 2nd October, 9:00am-10:00am.Parish Magazine: A few copies of the Summer issue are still available (£2.00 each) from the back of church. Please note that the COPY DEADLINE for the Autumn issue is this Sunday, 20th September.Food Bank: Weekly Message from Lynda Delf - On Sunday 13th September, 4kg of food and £40.00 was donated in Church, and a parishioner gave me £10.00 and 6kg of food - this will provide 15 meals and the money used to purchase more food.Many thanks for your continuing support to our food banks.Our current shortages include rice, sugar, jam, tinned meat, potatoes, tomatoes, fish, rice pudding and fruit. We always need toilet rolls, household cleaning materials, long life-fruit juice and milk.Thank you so much,LyndaBurghley Care Coffee Mornings: Burghley Care are holding coffee mornings in the Institute on Thursdays 10:00am to 1:00pm, to introduce themselves to the area. These events are open to anyone in the local community.Tuesday Group Monthly Coffee Afternoons: Tea & Talk continues, with the next coffee afternoon taking place in the Institute on Tuesday 13th October, commencing at 2:00pm.Durham University Open Days - September 2026: On Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September, University Open Days will be taking place. It is expected that 10,000 extra people will be in the city on both of these dates, so this will likely have an impact on traffic throughout the city.Peter's Sabbatical: Our Rector, the Reverend Peter Kashouris is currently on sabbatical leave until Tuesday 3rd November. During this time, the church services will continue as normal. During this period, please send all items for the weekly notice sheet to Jane Walker at the parish office.For your Prayers: Please pray for the family of the late Alison Ninos, formerly of Stanley, County Durham, whose scattering of ashes will be led by the Reverend Canon Gavin Wort this Saturday, 19th September at Durham Crematorium.Kind regards, Jane Walker (Parish Administrator)St Oswald's Parish OfficeTel: 0191 383 0830Email: stoswaldschurchoffice@gmail.com
