Crossword Genius

Service religiously said to mean a lot (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mass

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'lot' is the definition.
(I know that lot is a class)

'service religiously said to mean a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mss' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mass that I've seen before include "Lots of people" , "Widespread" , "Lump of material" , "congregation for > service" , "Religious celebration" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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