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.

Wednesday, 22nd July 2026 - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Mary Magdalene

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, whose Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of mind and body and called her to be a witness to his resurrection: forgive us our sins, we beseech thee, and heal us by thy grace, that we may serve thee in the power of his risen life; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship

Verses from the Gospel Reading Appointed for the Principal Service on the Feast of St Mary Magdalene:

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20:11-18 , New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition

The Post Communion:

Almighty God, from whom all life and love proceed, whose risen Son called Mary Magdalene by her name, sending her to tell his apostles of his resurrection: we pray thee in thy mercy to assist us, who have been united with him in this holy communion, to proclaim the good news that he liveth and reigneth, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship 

A Poem for the Feast of St Mary Magdalene:

Marie Magdalene

When blessed Marie wip’d her Saviours feet,
(Whose precepts she had trampled on before)
And wore them for a jewell on her head,
Shewing his steps should be the street,
Wherein she thenceforth evermore
With pensive humblenesse would live and tread:

She being stain’d herself, why did she strive
To make him clean, who could not be defil’d?
Why kept she not her tears for her own faults,
And not his feet? Though we could dive
In tears like seas, our sinnes are pil’d
Deeper then they, in words, and works, and thoughts.

Deare soul, she knew who did vouchsafe and deigne
To bear her filth; and that her sinnes did dash
Ev’n God himself: wherefore she was not loth
As she had brought wherewith to stain,
So to bring in wherewith to wash:
And yet in washing one, she washed both.

From The Temple (1633), by George Herbert

A Prayer for All Who Are Affected by the Wildfires Currently Spreading Across Much of Europe:

Holy God, in you alone we find safety and shelter. Be a sure refuge to all suffering from wildfires. Grant courage, protection, and favourable weather to firefighters and emergency responders; embrace with supportive communities all who are newly displaced or homeless; comfort those grieving all that has been destroyed and give patience to those who are anxious, not knowing when relief will come. Heal your whole creation, that out of flame and ashes new growth will spring forth. We pray through Jesus Christ, our life and our strength.

Amen.

The Parish of Upper Island Cove - Part of the Anglican Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador (The Anglican Church of Canada)

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

July 2026 - Wearmouth 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. 

Saints of the North 

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