When God gives us gifts, He does so with a purpose. He doesn’t just give us gifts for us to bury and give back to Him someday unused. In the Parable of the Talents, we learn about the risk in not doing anything with the gifts that God has given to us, in particular, the gift of the Church and the Orthodox way of life. God has given the Church to us for us to take the Church out into the world to grow the Church and return it to Him increased.