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, 26th August 2026 - Ordinary Time

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of 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

The Second Reading Appointed for Today's Morning Prayer:

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’ Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

(Acts 9:19b-31, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition) 

A Prayer for All Emergency Service Workers:

Dear Heavenly Father,

We pray for those who serve in the emergency services. We pray that you protect those whose service is our protection. May they receive your strength in the performance of their duty. We uphold those who have served in past years and we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in their task of preserving life and upholding law and order.

May all who serve or have served within the emergency services be sheltered by your wings of your love both now and forever. May we always show our gratitude towards those who serve within our emergency services and not take for granted the precious work they do.

We ask you, Lord, graciously to hear our prayer.

Amen.

Warrington Salvation Army

We pray especially at this time for the repose of the souls of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, officers of Cleveland Police who died in the recent road collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough, and for comfort and strength for their families, friends, loved ones and colleagues.

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace and rise in glory.

Amen.

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

August 2026 - Auckland Deanery

A Prayer of St Oswald

Let us all kneel, and together beseech the true and living God Almighty in his mercy to defend us from the proud and cruel enemy; for he knows that we have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation.

Amen. 

The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People 

(Prayed by King Oswald of Northumbria and his army on the battlefield on the eve of the Battle of Heavenfield)