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.

Sunday, 10th May 2026 - Easter Season: The Sixth Sunday of Easter; The Start of Christian Aid Week

Alleluia, Alleluia!

For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Alleluia!

1 Corinthians 5:7b-8, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. 

1 Peter 3:17-20, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

The Collect of the Day:

God our redeemer, who hast delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of thy Son: grant, that as by his death he hath recalled us to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; 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 a World free from Poverty:

God of justice, we pray for a world free from poverty,
where all people can live with dignity, hope and enough to thrive.

Be close to those facing hardship today.
Bring strength where there is struggle
and hope where there is uncertainty.

Open our eyes to injustice,
our hearts to compassion,
and our lives to action.

May we stand together in love
until poverty is no more.

Amen.

Christian Aid

A Poem for the Sixth Sunday of Easter:

And We In You

(John 14:15-21)

As the tree is in the earth
and the earth in the tree,
as the sea is in the fish
and the fish in the sea,

as the bird is in the air
and the air in the bird,
as word is in the breath
and breath in the word,

as rhyme is in the music
and music in rhyme,
as time is in the season
and the season in time,

as grief is in the loving
and loving in grief,
as belief is in the hope
and hope in the belief,

as desire is in the will
and the will in desire,
as fire is in the flame
and the flame in the fire,

as you, Christ, are in God
and God is in you,
so are you in us,
and we in you.

So are you in us and
we in you.

Andrew King, A Poetic Kind Of Place - Andrew King's Lectionary Weblog

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