No, not the action of filling the freezer tray with water to make ice-cubes. Nor that request from kids who look longingly into the cold-food section at the service station. But a term to describe the rudeness of a driver of a petrol car, that is, an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), who parks in the space assigned as the charging station for an electric vehicle, thus blocking access for the person who needs it.

In the synagogue of Jesus’ day, it was more than an inconvenience. It was a wickedness that drew from Jesus’ lips one of his most stinging rebukes: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” These legalists were deliberately parking in the bay marked grace, hindering those who were searching for salvation.

What a terrible sin: to block, with an icy heart, someone who is trying to understand the way to heaven. But how precious is that opposite attitude: to ensure that seekers have unhindered access to the gospel. It’s what our brother Paul taught the Corinthian church by example: “I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means, I might save some.” God help us then to park any grumpy attitudes up the street and around the corner, so that others might be able to park their thirsty hearts near that port of saving grace.