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In his invocation Monday morning, the Rev. Jesse Jackson thanked God "for the fullness of time."

On the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth lunch-counter sit-ins, with the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in the same building, the phrase was packed with meaning.

Jackson meant that the Greensboro Four, although acting independently, followed a progression of actions taking place across the South and supported by many in Greensboro. In turn, the sit-in movement they launched set many other events in motion and eventually changed the country.

'Nothing but God's day'

The long-awaited completion of the new museum also has been accomplished in the fullness of time. Co-founder Melvin "Skip" Alston, noting criticisms of delays, said at a Monday news conference that he often prayed that God's will be done.

"This was going to be the day that He wanted this museum to open," Alston said, noting the significance of the 50th anniversary. "It can't be nothing but God's day."

Although the Almighty might have granted warmer temperatures for the ceremony on South Elm Street, Monday was a day when Greensboro could feel blessed. Favorable national attention has focused on the city. The three surviving members of the Greensboro Four -- Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and Jibreel Khazan -- all attended. And the museum earned rave reviews. It promises to be a community asset for a very long time.

"We didn't build this museum for the decades but for the millennium," co-founder Earl Jones said, adding he expects it to stand "as long as the country exists."

Indeed, Monday was a day for reflecting on the past and looking forward.

At the heart of the museum lies the lunch counter and stools where the sit-ins took place. The four N.C. A&T freshmen sat and asked for service, a scene that comes alive through a video dramatization shown on screens behind the counter. But visitors don't begin or end their tour at the lunch counter because the sit-ins marked neither the start nor the conclusion of the fight against forced segregation.

A history of struggle

The museum doesn't offer only a lineup of artifacts but a brief journey through the history of a people's struggle for rights promised but long denied.

The first exhibit shows an image of words from the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal," superimposed over depictions of slavery and Jim Crow. A video fills in the details of a cruel past. Then visitors pass through a "Hall of Shame" lined with gruesome images of lynchings and other atrocities. Emerging, they view another video dramatization, this one showing the four A&T students finalizing their sit-in plans. From there, visitors can follow McCain, McNeil, Khazan (then Ezell Blair Jr.) and the late David Richmond through their "Walk of Courage" to the downtown Woolworth, past depictions of civil-rights pioneers who preceded them.

Other exhibits continue the story and culminate in "A Changed World," which is dominated by a portrait of Barack Obama composed of many smaller portraits. A display case contains a piece of the Berlin Wall, an image of Kosovo and references to other conflicts, an effort to internationalize the theme of the museum.

City takes 'its rightful place'

What's distinctive, however, is the restored building itself, the lunch counter and the magnitude of the event that occurred there a half-century ago. It is Greensboro's shining moment, and it is why a museum here is a viable attraction.

With it, "Greensboro takes its rightful place" in civil rights history alongside Birmingham, Montgomery and Little Rock, Jackson said. It captures and preserves a "magical moment" in time.

"I'm so proud of it," Khazan said of the museum. "I cried tears" -- especially at the listing of the names of the movement's martyrs.

At the same time, the museum should not be a "mausoleum," Jackson warned. Others agreed.

"This is a work in progress," Khazan said. "Support it, add to it, have your children come to it."

"We hope the people who come to the museum respond to it," McNeil said, noting that his own response was to remember some of the anger that prompted the sit-ins and the determination that carried them to success.

'Dream greater dreams'

The museum triggered a reaction in McCain that seems strange for someone who accomplished so much 50 years ago. It was to ask himself, "What have I done lately? Have I helped anyone, any cause?"

It's a reminder that struggles against injustice are never won, but also that just a few individuals, or even one person, can make a difference. When he speaks to groups of young people, McCain said, "I'm looking for only one ... to catch the spirit of 1960 or 1776." The odds may be against you, but "facts don't matter if your dream is big enough."

"We need people to dream greater dreams than ever before," Khazan added.

The museum and the lessons it imparts should inspire dreams, or visions, or the desire to stand -- or sit -- for freedom and dignity. It tells important stories that will be completed only in the fullness of time.