Short ceremony encapsulated by cross and incense (8)
I believe the answer is:
irritate
'incense' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'short ceremony encapsulated by cross' is the wordplay.
'short ceremony' becomes 'rit'.
'encapsulated by' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'cross' becomes 'irate' (both can mean angry).
'rit' placed into 'irate' is 'IRRITATE'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for irritate that I've seen before include "bug" , "Make angry or fretful" , "Provoke" , "Annoy or cause itching" , "Vex or chafe" .)