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, 17th June 2026 - Ordinary Time: Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 and 1936 [Commemoration]; Refugee Week

The Narrow Door

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’

Luke 13:22-30, 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 Collect for the Commemoration of Samuel and Henrietta Barnett:

Merciful Father, whose servants Samuel and Henrietta Barnett served Christ in the poor of Whitechapel and worked to provide educational opportunities for all: make us know that all your children are equal in your sight; help us to build a society in which the gifts and needs of each person are recognised and valued, so that we may all live in the joy of your kingdom.

Amen.

St Nicolas' Parish Church, Guildford (Part of the Diocese of Guildford) 

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