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.

Saturday, 30th May 2026 - Whitsuntide: Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 [Lesser Festival]; Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431 [Commemoration]; Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist in Central Africa, 1933 [Commemoration]

Our hearts cry out for Justice; our souls are athirst for Justice. Like the Hebrew prophet we are sometimes constrained to exclaim, ‘Justice has fallen in the street.’ 

From Truth Before Everything, Josephine Butler

The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

Luke 10:17-20, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition 

The Collect of the Day:

O God of compassion and love, by whose grace thy servant Josephine Butler followed in the way of thy Son in caring for those in need: help us, after her example, to work with strength for the restoration of all to the dignity and freedom of those created in thine image; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who 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 Commemoration of Joan of Arc:

Joan of Arc

This word had Merlin said from of old:—
That out of the Oak Tree Shade
In the day of France's direst dule,
God's hand should send a Maid.
And where Domremy, by Burgundy,
Sits crowned with its oakenshaw,
Even there Joan d'Arc, the Maid of God's Ark,
The light of the day first saw.

Where spirits go, what man may know?
Yet this may of man be said:—
That, when Time is o'er and all hath sufficed,
Shall the world's chief Christ-fire rise to Christ
From the ashes of Joan the Maid.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

A Prayer for all who are Affected by the Current Outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):

God of miraculous healing, whose Son displayed your power over sickness and death, we pray for all those who are sick or have died amid outbreaks of infectious disease, including Ebola, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Africa. As violence and displacement deepen suffering, help medical workers and public health systems to stem the outbreak and prevent further sickness and death. Protect all the vulnerable in Congo and the surrounding countries. May those who are fearful amid the pain of sickness and death look with hope toward restoration and release. Help us advocate for investment in global health systems that seek to prevent and coordinate response to health emergencies, especially the World Health Organization and other emergency response systems. Come, Lord Jesus, and bring an end to all suffering, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Public Witness Weekly Prayers, The Episcopal Church

A Prayer for all who are Living in Poverty or under Oppression:

Heavenly Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ came to bring good news to the poor,
to heal the broken-hearted, and to set free those who are oppressed:
give grace to the leaders of all the nations,
that, being so hungry for justice for your poorest people,
and fired with passion for their raising up,
they may be renewed in their determination to fulfil the promises they have made to them;
that the chains of hunger, disease and inequality may be broken;
and that all humanity may know life in all its fullness;
through him who came that we might have the same, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Anglican Communion 

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

May 2026 - Gateshead and Gateshead West Deaneries

A 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