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.

Thursday, 16th April 2026 - Easter Season: The Commemoration of Isabella Gilmore, Deaconess, 1923

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. 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 5:7-8, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition 

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’? All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 

Colossians 2:20-3:4, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

A Prayer that Christ may dwell within us:

Dwell within us, O Christ, as we go about our work in quietness and peace; rejoice with us in the work you have given us to do; bless us in the love you have called us to share, and be present in the message you have summoned us to speak.

Amen.

Isabella Gilmore, Pioneer Anglican Deaconess (1842-1923)

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits 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

A Prayer for all who are in Despair and Darkness, that they may find the Hope and Light of Christ:

Lord our trust is in you alone.
In a world with much despair and trouble,
where people are famished for hope we turn to you.
Make us strong to comfort those who are in despair.
Give us hope to encourage and strengthen those in trouble.
Send your unfailing love to surround those who are in harm's way.
Comfort the comforters,
Mourn with the mourners,
Protect the innocent,
Draw us all into the shelter of your wings.

Amen.

Christine Sine - Founder and Facilitator of Godspace

A Sonnet for the Second Sunday of Easter:

St Thomas the Apostle

"We do not know... how can we know the way?"
Courageous master of the awkward question,
You spoke the words the others dared not say
And cut through their evasion and abstraction.
Oh doubting Thomas, father of my faith,
You put your finger on the nub of things
We cannot love some disembodied wraith,
But flesh and blood must be our king of kings.
Your teaching is to touch, embrace, anoint,
Feel after Him and find Him in the flesh.
Because He loved your awkward counter-point
The Word has heard and granted you your wish.
Oh place my hands with yours, help me divine
The wounded God whose wounds are healing mine.

Sounding the Seasons - The Reverend Dr A Malcolm Guite, Canterbury Press Norwich, 2012

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

April 2026 - Chester-le-Street and Houghton Deanery

The Prayer of 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)