The arguments on both sides of this issue are reasonable. I was taught to use the serial comma in school in the 1970s and 80s, and it was the "correct" way to punctuate according to the teacher's manual I used in the 1990s. It "feels right" to me, especially when I'm reading work by my students. Without that comma, I read without a pause, as you mentioned, and it throws me. However, to each his own.