what do you mean, "love"?

Last time something I read made me start asking questions about love.  The issues is this:
Being challenged to love the people round me doesn't fit with the combination of what 'love' means and who the people are who surround me.  Maybe what this spiritual advisor said irrelevant, or even stupidly wrong?
I give it another go, because we've journeyed a long way with him in this blog-search for spirituality that works in our urban hub.

And here it is; at least he is going to tell us what he means by "love":
This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us.
That is a pretty tough expample: dying.  It definitely takes it out of the context of sexual chemistry, or even romance.  But I can't go round dying for the people that surround me.

John goes on:

And we ought to lay down our lives for the people around us.  If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

Now that is a challenge.  A friend without a job.  A colleague who walks to the station in the rain.  A nephew with major medical expenses.  The guy who rings the bell on my gate.  A subordinate in hospital.

Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Okay ... This is demanding.
Facebook is not enough.  Google+ is only an extra.  Even Hallmark is just a money-spinner.

We are looking at meals, hammers and nails, giving lifts, listening to stories, wielding a vacuum-cleaner, helping with deadlines ... action and truth.