Royal honour is article given to church in reverence (9)
I believe the answer is:
obeisance
'reverence' is the definition.
(I know that obeisance is a type of reverence)
'royal honour is article given to church' is the wordplay.
'royal honour' becomes 'OBE' (Order of the British Empire).
'article' becomes 'an' (indefinite article).
'given to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'obe'+'is'+'an'+'ce'='OBEISANCE'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for obeisance that I've seen before include "Deep bow or act of homage" , "Submissive respect" , "great respect" , "Homage or deference" , "Bowing" .)