Service in US state shortened (4)
I believe the answer is:
mass
'service' is the definition.
(religious service)
'in us state shortened' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'us' becomes 'mas' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'shortened' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'state' is 's'.
'mas' going around 's' is 'MASS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mass that I've seen before include "Large amount, body" , "Get together" , "Ceremony for many" , "Substance; a service" , "Rite; quantity of matter" .)