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.

Friday, 19th June 2026 - Ordinary Time: Sadhu Sundar Singh of India, Missionary, Evangelist, Mystic and Teacher of the Faith, 1929 [Commemoration]; Refugee Week

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

Luke 14:12-14, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

The Collect of the Day:

O Lord, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth: send thy Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee; grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake, 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 the Commemoration of Sadhu Sundar Singh:

Dear Master, 

Thy varied blessings and gifts have filled my heart to overflowing with gratitude and praise. But the praise of heart and tongue do not suffice me until I prove by my deeds that my life is devoted to thy service. Thanks and praise be to thee that thou hast brought me, unworthy though I am, out of death into life and made me to rejoice in thy fellowship and love. I know not as I ought either myself or my sore need, but thou, O Father, knowest full well thy creatures and their necessities. Nor can I love myself as thou lovest me. To love myself truly is to love with heart and soul that boundless love which gave me being, and that love thou art. Thou hast therefore given me but one heart, that it might be fixed on one only, on thee, who didst create it.

Master, to be seated at thy feet is better far than to sit upon the lordiest throne of earth, for it means to be enthroned for ever in the eternal kingdom. And now, on the altar of these sacred feet I offer myself as a burnt sacrifice. Graciously accept me, and wheresoever and howsoever thou wilt, use me for thy service. For thou art mine, and I belong to thee, who didst take this handful of dust and make me in thine own image and didst grant me the right to become thy son.

All honour and glory and praise and thanksgiving be unto thee for ever and ever.

Amen.

From 'At the Master's Feet' by Sadhu Sundar Singh

A Prayer for Refugee Week, 15th-21st June 2026:

Oh God our refuge, be with all who flee war, violence, and oppression. Help us be brave enough to step out of our comfort zone and be with them too. Give us grace to stand alongside them without being swayed by a world backsliding into xenophobia, racism, hatred, hostility and fear.

Let us see our neighbours as neighbours. Allow us to see it as a great privilege if like the Samaritan, we have any opportunity to offer help, to bind up the wounds of violence and to provide a safe place for someone to stay and heal. Help us to love our exiled neighbours as ourselves.

Give us courage to stand against violence in all its forms, and alongside widows, orphans and strangers, even if all the governments of this world turn against them. Let us your Church be those who never turn our backs on them.

Amen.

Bradon Muilenberg - Anglican Refugee Support Lead (Based in Calais, Northern France)

(The role of Anglican Refuge Support Lead was established from a joint partnership between the Diocese in Europe, the Diocese of Canterbury and the Anglican mission agency, USPG in a response to the growing numbers of migrants around the Channel ports in Northern France. The theme for this year's Refugee Week is courage.)

A Prayer in Celebration of Diversity:

Almighty God, through your Holy Spirit you created unity in the midst of diversity;
We acknowledge that human diversity is an expression of your manifold love for your creation;
We confess that in our brokenness as human beings we turn diversity into a source of alienation, injustice, oppression, and wounding.
Empower us to recognize and celebrate differences as your great gift to the human family.
Enable us to be the architects of understanding, of respect and love;
Through the Lord, the ground of all unity, we pray.

Amen.

Author Unknown 

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

June 2026 - Jarrow Deanery

A Prayer of St Oswald of Northumbria:

Let us kneel together, and pray the true, the ever living and almighty God to protect us in his mercy from the arrogant savagery of our enemies, for he knows that we fight in a just cause for the preservation of our nation.

Amen. 

(Prayed by King Oswald with his Army on the Battlefield on the Eve of the Battle of Heavenfield, AD634)

Saints of the North