How do you respond to the statuesque response?

A sermon which doesn’t have any application is one of the four easy steps to give a bad sermon. One great way to land the sermon plane is to provide a time of response.

I’m always intrigued when there’s a response time with two options, but only one with a physical action.

Once the options are explained - say to pray/reflect quietly in your chair or stand/come down the from of the church - what happens if no one accepts the later choice?

I’m intrigued because, in theory, no one moving should be a perfectly fine response.

But, this reaction usually results in a desperate reiteration of the options and a prompt that they can now make a physical response.

Again, in theory, this makes perfect sense.

Maybe people were confused by the initial instructions.
Perhaps they were waiting to be allowed to move.

Nonetheless, it gets awkward when, in these statuesque response times, the leader gets progressively more desperate or disappointed.

The one thing a leader can use to sooth their ego is the rationalisation that everyone in attendance is just an introvert...