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, 15th March 2026 - Lenten Season: Mothering Sunday; The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday

For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation. 

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

The Collect of the Day:

Merciful God, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily lives that in joy and sorrow we may know the power of thy presence to bind together and to heal; 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 Mothering Sunday:

Loving God, thank you for mothers and children, and for the women who have nurtured us throughout our lives. Be with those who are grieving because they have no mother. Be close to those who are struggling because they have no children. Be near to those who are sad because they are far apart from those they love. Let your love be present in every home, And help your church to have eyes to see and ears to hear the needs of all who come. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The Diocese of York 

A Prayer for Peace Throughout the World:

Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed; Kindle, we pray thee, in every heart the true love of peace; and guide with thy pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth; that in tranquillity thy kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer 2004 - The Church of Ireland

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Monthly Deanery Intention - March 2026:

Lanchester Deanery

A Prayer for Lententide:

Hanging as a vine upon the Wood,
O Christ our Saviour,
Thou hast made the ends of the earth
to drink from the wine of incorruption.
Therefore do I cry aloud:
I am darkened always by the hateful drunkenness of sin;
Give me to drink from the sweet wine of true compunction,
and grant me now the strength, O Saviour,
to fast from sensual pleasures,
for Thou art good and lovest mankind.

Amen.

St Joseph of Thessalonica, The Lenten Triodion - The Eastern Orthodox Church 

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