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.

Monday, 27th April 2026 - Easter Season: Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894 [Commemoration]

Alleluia, Alleluia!

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia!

Romans 6:9-11, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition 

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 

Luke 2:41-47, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life: raise us, who trust in him, from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, that we may seek those things which are above, where he liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship

A Poem for the Easter Season:

A Better Resurrection

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numb’d too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimm’d with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall—the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish’d thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me. 

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894

A Prayer for Good Shepherd Sunday:

Good Shepherd of the sheep by whom we the lost are sought and guided into the fold; feed us and we shall be satisfied, heal us and we shall be whole. In this ongoing season of walking within the shadow of levels and bubbles, thank you that you walk with us giving strength and peace. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. 

Amen.

Northwest Anglican - Church of the Good Shepherd, Massey, Auckland, NZ (Part of the Diocese of Auckland in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia)

A Prayer for those in fear of Death, that they may find Faith through the Resurrection:

Jesus, Lord, don't let the fear of death overpower us.
And don't let the loss of our loved ones
cause us to doubt your power to "Easter" everybody.
Remind us, Lord,
that you have the last words over death.
You are risen!
You are not "among the dead".
Neither are we.
We shall live forever in your triumphant love.

Amen.

The Missionary Society of St Columban, US

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

April 2026 - Chester-le-Street and Houghton Deanery

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