It would have been a routine Sunday morning anywhere else on the Jersey Shore, as families pulled wagons of beach gear across the sand, and children splashed in the surf, but in Ocean Grove, it was both historic and controversial. Visitors to the seaside community in Monmouth County were able to walk from the boardwalk to the beach before noon, with chains and padlocked barriers removed, ending a 155-year-old tradition tied Ocean Grove’s Methodist roots that blocked access to the sand on Sunday mornings. It was a Christian tradition loyally defended by some residents. But others objected to pu…