Risks
Lunar-orbit rendezvous required docking the lunar module with the command module in lunar orbit in order for the astronauts who had landed on the Moon to transfer (with their collected lunar material) to the command module for the return journey to Earth. Astronauts practiced the complex task of separating and uniting spacecraft to master docking techniques with Langley's Rendezvous and Docking Simulator, today a National Historic Landmark.
An Earth orbit rendezvous was considered far less risky because it avoided the two riskiest elements of LOR: 1) if the rendezvous in lunar orbit failed, the LM astronauts would be stranded and would not return to Earth, (2) if the Service Module engine failed after the rendezvous in lunar orbit, no astronauts would return. With EOR, if the rendezvous in Earth orbit failed, the astronauts would be able to return to Earth : either with a powered re-entry or, if the engine had failed, when the orbit would naturally decay.
Read more about this topic: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
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