Hello Again

Petra starts with a list of the ways people part: goodbyes said "while they wipe away the tears from their eyes," a "fonder farewell," a "Sayonara" from someone who "won't be back tomorrow." Every one of them assumes the parting is final, and the verse ends on the wish for "reunions, back together with the ones they knew once."

Against all those farewells the song sets "a salutation that's reserved for heaven's own," and the chorus is that greeting repeated: "Hello again, we're back together... rejoined in heaven." The second verse has some fun with the picture, with everyone waiting "to see you graduating," glad to see you "even if it wasn't their idea," and every old argument forgotten.

The bridge pairs each goodbye with a hello: goodbye to "the loneliness forever," hello "to the garden once again," goodbye to "this world of stormy weather," hello "to the One who calls you friend." The lyric sheet credits Revelation 21:4, where God wipes away every tear. The reunion itself rests on 1 Thessalonians 4:17's "caught up together with them," and the closing line echoes John 15:15, where Jesus calls his followers friends.